Naruto: Times of Peace (SYOC)
by Yamada07
Summary: Set 2 years before the start of the series. The Hidden Leaf Village, certainly the perfect place to find all sorts of interesting people. Said people being the only ones capable of getting into trouble when there is supposed to be none to find. Please Read and Review! (always accepting side-characters)
1. Chapter 1

**Hello there beautiful people and welcome to this little SYOC project of mine, I have seen lots of SYOC stories around the site and noticed that there aren't that many ones in the Naruto fandom except maybe one or two… time to change that!**

 **I'll start this off with a prologue so the Rulers & Guidelines Nazis don't come bombard this… And also so you can take a look at the writing that I'll be offering you *winks***

 **YOU CAN SKIP THE PROLOGUE IF YOU REALLY WANT TO BUT YOU MUST, I REPEAT, YOU MUST READ THE RULES AND INFORMATION BELOW.**

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Prologue- A New Day

The light of a new day shined over the Hidden Leaf Village as the sun rose over the horizon, illuminating the blossoming settlement in the process. It's beautifully colored rooftops on the buildings, the green forests and the magnificent Hokage monument with the village's 4 mighty leaders permanently etched into stone, everything made the village look peaceful and quiet. As it was also an early morning barely anyone walked the streets of the village save for the rare dutiful workers that prided themselves in their strict work-habits.

Of course, it was only a matter of time until the Village went from its passive and peaceful slumber into its usual busy and colorful state.

One young boy in particular readied himself for the important day ahead of him. The early sunlight illuminated his room through his open window as the morning breeze swayed through plain white curtains. The room was very messy, characteristic of a boy his age. However, his' was even worse as the young dark-haired boy had a habit for hoarding things which he never really threw away. Many objects adorned the room, paintings and drawings adorned his blue-colored walls, his bookshelf and desk covered from top-to-bottom with not only scrolls and books, but also stuff that ranged from old toys all the way to wooden figurines, pretty stones and even forgotten Kunai and Shuriken.

The dark-haired boy stood in front of the mirror and smirked proudly as he tightened the crimson-colored _still empty but not for long_ headband around his forehead, his dark brown hair was short yet messy, with a couple of short bang-ish strands of hair poking out of the crimson headband, the 12 year old wore a gray jacket with a darker color on the top of sleeves starting at the shoulders and on the back going all the way around to the pockets. A pair of dark gray cargo trousers (with his kunai pocket strapped tightly on his right leg) went all the way down to his ankles where his black sandals finished everything up. You couldn't see them, but there were bandages wrapped around his feet, ankles and all the way up to his knees. His amber colored eyes burned fierce with determination as the smirk remained plastered on his face, today was the day after all.

There were a couple of knocks on his door that startled the young boy.

"Yuu!" The voice of an older woman called in a very happy tone "Breakfast is ready!"

"I'll be downstairs in a minute… and my name is _Yuuta_!" Amane Yuuta could only hear light chuckling as an answer. And soon enough the woman who called out to him could be heard going down to the kitchen.

He let out a short sigh. He had always hated to be called _Yuu_ , it made him feel like a pet.

He walked over to the door and opened it after grabbing his bag (which he had already prepared the night before), before stepping outside however, he took a last look at a picture on his desk. It was the photograph of a beautiful dark-haired woman who calmly smiled at the camera, eyes closed on her delicate, yet happy-looking features. She wore a dark, navy blue kimono with purple trimmings, but that was everything you could make out from the portrait. The picture itself seemed to emanate a sense of calmness towards the young boy who formed a sad smile on his usually happy face.

"I promise I'll get it right this time Mom" A small, sad frown began to form on his face as well. He couldn't stand looking at the picture for more than a few seconds since it made him feel really, really sad.

He quickly dashed out of his room closing the door afterwards, he was now in a wooden-floored hallway with green-walls and 3 closed doors leading to other rooms. He didn't pay any mind to those and turned left, the staircase leading down was immediately there right next to his room. He dashed down the stairs as well despite being told to be careful several times in the past and arrived downstairs of the building, a quick turn to his right and in the kitchen stood the woman who had called out to him earlier.

Finally slowing down, he walked into the perfectly clean cooking-area and took a seat in the empty table while the older woman had her back turned at him since she was still working on the food. Everything seemed to point out that he was the first one besides her to get up today and with good reason at that.

"I'm here Chigusa-neechan" Yuuta casually called out to the older woman, some might think Yuuta was being disrespectful but the woman known as Aoi Chigusa had known Yuuta for nearly as long as the young boy had been alive.

"I heard stomping your way downstairs Yuu, can't you be more hopeless? You'll end up falling" Oddly enough, she sounded strict and concerned at the same time without even having to turn around from her task.

Yuuta sighed "Yeah, right… breakfast!" He pounded his fist into the wooden table, producing a loud smacking noise.

"It'll be ready in a second" Despite the young boy's rudeness towards her, she didn't even flinch or got annoyed. That's the immunity you get after knowing someone for their entire life-span. Yuuta took the moments of waiting and analyzed Chigusa's appearance from behind, her long slightly wavy dark blue hair flowed casually down her back, she was currently wearing a white apron over a pink blouse and what seemed to be a long brown skirt as well as white shoes. Her curvy body and slim build was apparent thanks to the apron being tight around her waist.

She finally turned around, a white bowl with food on her hand and a pair of chopsticks on her other one. Surprisingly, she caught the young boy stealing a glance at her and quickly decided to try and tease him a little.

"My, my, Yuu-chan, keep looking at me like that and I might fall for you" A smile-smirk formed on her beautiful, mature-looking fair-skinned face which was at least a couple of tones lighter than Yuuta's slightly tanned skin, she finished it off by tilting her head a bit in an attempt to appear more cute or as boys called it these days, 'moe'.

"You are too old, Chigusa-neechan" Yuuta mercilessly declared, his attention now completely focused on the white bowl on her left hand. However, it was redirected to the other hand as the chopsticks suddenly snapped in half… and not the correct half. A nerve had formed on Chigusa's forehead and a dark aura surrounded her, sending a chill down Yuuta's spine.

"Now, now, Yuu-chan… let's not forget I'm only 24… okay?" Yuuta nervously nodded in agreement, finally earning him his food and a new pair of chopsticks. After that, Chigusa went back to the sink and started washing some dishes from last night's dinner. A growl from his stomach brought Yuuta back to reality and he proceeded to eat, rolling the sleeves of his gray jacket before commencing. He angrily wolfed down whatever was on his bowl (which was mainly a large amount of rice with some sidings) and slammed it down on the table after finishing, the boy had the strangest combination of a fiery appetite and a relatively small stomach, so even if he got fiercely hungry quite often, a small-to-medium meal was usually enough to satiate him (though he could eat much more if he really wanted to).

He stood up without saying anything to Chigusa because he thought she was still angry and proceeded to walk to the door. However, the blue-haired woman pulled Yuuta by the collar of his jacket from behind.

"Waaa!… What's the matter!?" The young amber-eyed boy stumbled a bit before turning around to face the older –and taller- woman. She smiled, her violet-colored eyes giving him a look of proudness. He wasn't her son, he wasn't her brother or her cousin either… but Yuuta was just as dear to her as any of that.

"This goes without saying, but when you come back I am expecting you to have 'something' to put here" She points at his empty headband, and he immediately understands what this is about.

Yuuta smirks "Yeah, you can count on it!" His eyes once again shine with determination. _That is good,_ she thought. He might not be the most talented, or the most athletic for that matter. But that determination is bound to carry him a long way.

"Now go, you don't want to be late. The other kids will be getting up soon so I have to get breakfast ready for them as well" He nods and runs off the front door immediately, leaving before he gets distracted by anything else.

Now out on the street Yuuta stretches his arms above his head, taking a deep breath of the fresh morning air. He should still have an hour left before he needs to arrive at the academy, so he takes it easy and simply walks down the path. Being one of the few kids living in the area besides the other ones who also live in the same house as him, the older people who are outside of their homes taking a walk or cleaning outside recognize him and casually greet and wish him luck on his test. Being a bit shy around people he doesn't know, he merely waves his hand back at them.

He puts his hands inside of his remarkably light and comfortable jacket's pockets and takes another deep breath and looks up to the bright blue sky.

Just before he can start relaxing on his morning stroll to school, he is alerted by the _oh so familiar_ noise of commotion caused by a certain kid. He turns to the buildings on his left and as expected, notices the blonde-haired boy in an orange jumpsuit, green goggles on his forehead and three whiskers on his cheeks running around the rooftops with a bucket of red paint. He laughs his lungs out while being chased by a couple of Chunins. It is really weird how a young kid can cause so much trouble… Yuuta recalls the kid being about two years younger than he is, and if he remembers correctly his name was…

"Naruto… wasn't it?"

* * *

 **So, there you go. I really hope you enjoyed this short prologue showcasing a bit about my own character, I am obviously not the perfect writer, so if you can review your feedback it would be much appreciated, I always look for new ways to improve.**

 **Now, on to the rules and information…**

 **RULES AND INFORMATION**

1) Look, I know and I understand the feeling of wanting to make your OC a powerful badass, and this is the Naruto universe, where being a powerful badass is, well, badass. However, let me halt your horses right away, prodigies like Sasuke are only one in a million, chakra powerhouses like Naruto are only one in a million, and if you are in the Naruto universe… odds are you are not one in a million. Not every Geninis a prodigy natural-born battle genius right away, skills and abilities take time to develop. If you are still going to be submitting a, say, 11 years old Genin who already knows 50 jutsus and can use all chakra natures, has 2 kekkei genkais and blah blah… this is not for you.

2) However, this does not stop you from making a TALENTED OC, Talent and Power are two different things, a talented OC won't be powerful right away, but will grow to be amazingly strong as the story goes on depending on how well and descriptively you define their talent, you can't just say "he learns things in two days", that is being lazy, you need to explain their talents and have them make sense.

3) What I mean with the two above points is: No one is perfect, even the show's original characters have fatal flaws that make them beatable. As such, "perfect" or "flawless" OC's are not accepted, especially if they are Genin.

4) I don't think I even have to say this, but OC's must have a Japanese name and belong to Konoha / The Hidden Leaf, I might ask for OC's from other villages, but that will be in the future.

5) OC's are to be sent by PM Only, title your PM subject as following: "Naruto SYOC: [OC NAME] otherwise I won't bother to read it.

6) While I'm mainly looking for Genin OC's, I am also looking for around 3 Jonin Senseis to mentor said Genin OC's.

7) Your OC can belong to any of the clans in Konoha, (except for the Uchiha Clan, they are quite a bit dead... so no sharingans running around) but they cannot be directly related to any of the characters of the series. For example, they can be Hyuga but not Neji's brother nor Hinata's sister. Also, this takes place 2 years before the start of the series, so any encounter with any of the young characters is very unlikely.

8) Hi.

9) That's about it, the rest will be explained throughout the form.

 **THE FORM IS ON MY PROFILE**

I'll be leaving my own OC down here so you can use as a reference for whatever you want or need.

 **Naruto SYOC**

Name: Amane Yuuta (last, first)

Nickname: "Yuuta" "Yuu" or "Yuu-chan" but the later two are almost exclusively used by his tutor.

Age: 12

Gender: Male

Sexuality: Straight.

Clan: Amane Clan / ?

-The Amane Clan is an undistinguished, "average" family in Konoha, so far it has only produced two Shinobi prospects, one of them being Yuuta.

APPEARANCE-

Hair Color and Style: Yuuya has short yet messy dark brown hair, some short strands of hair fall on his forehead as bangs.

Eye Color: Yuuya has bright Amber eyes, though they appear to be somewhat pale from time to time.

Skin Tone: Slightly tanned, but still considered to be Fair.

Body Type/Build: Yuuya has a very average build, not too slim nor too robust, it is just the build of a healthy kid his age who regularly engages in exercise and training, so, as it is to be expected, he is also a bit on the athletic side.

Height: 152 cm / 5'0

Weight: 45 kg / 100 lbs.

Scars/Tattoos/Etc: None.

Clothing: A gray jacket with a darker color on the top of sleeves starting at the shoulders and on the back going all the way around to the pockets. A pair of dark gray cargo trousers (with his kunai pocket strapped tightly on his right leg) goes all the way down to his ankles where his black sandals finish everything up. You can't see them, but there are bandages wrapped around his feet, ankles and all the way up to his knees. Yuuta wears his crimson red headband on his forehead.

BIO-

Background: Many details will be explored during the story, but in case you hadn't noticed, Yuuta's parents are simply not there, whether they are dead on not will also be explored. Yuuta has already attempted to graduate from the academy once but failed, this is his second attempt.

Family: ?

Personality: As it was seen during the prologue, Yuuta has an overall cheerful and happy personality like most kids his age, despite being a bit shy and laid back towards people he doesn't know once he settles and begins to trust you he starts showing to be a little bit more aggressive with his comments and even sarcastic at times, Yuuta is overall a very nice guy that seeks to do the right things at the right times, he trusts his friends and it is very hard for him to truly hate someone. Yuuta fights his lack of natural talent with lots of hard work, you will nearly never see him slacking off during training or taking shortcuts to reach a goal. Though he is lazy enough to take shortcuts to get to a destination or something like that.

Likes: Breeze, Wind, Stars, Running, ?.

Dislikes: Evil, ?.

Fears: His ?

Secrets: ?

Motivation/Goal: He wants to make his mother -wherever she is- as proud as he can, and ?

Love Interest: ?

COMBAT INFORMATION-

Elemental Affinity: Fire

Jutsus:

*Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Jutsu (pretty much trademarked it)

*Fire Release: Flame Leaf Whirlwind: A combination of fire release and one of the trademark Taijutsu of the Hidden Leaf, it is basically a flame-covered spinning kick.

**Shadow Clone Jutsu (though he is limited to about 3 clones)

**Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu (barely)

**?

**?

**?

What is your OC better at?: Taijutsu

What is your OC worse at?: Genjutsu

Fighting Style:

*For his first and most used fighting style Yuuta keeps a very acrobatic and very vertical fighting style, with vertical i mean that he spends a lot of time in the air, throwing kicks and punches down below, he is also very good at blending in his fire-style ninjutsu and good weapon throwing skills with his fighting style, overall, he is pretty fast for a Genin but holds back his strength to the point where he seems that he is fighting to incapacitate instead of kill. It is usually an effective fighting style since his attacks literally come in every possible direction, plus the opponent also has to watch out for his fire and shuriken.

*?

Strengths: Acrobatics, Speed, Versatility.

Weaknesses: Strength, Holding Back, Genjutsu.

OTHER-

What is your OC's opinion or relationship on Yuuta?: Pretty sure he loves himself very much.

Has your OC ever killed someone already?: Nope.

Does your OC have what is required to kill someone?: ?

What is your OC's reaction to blood and guts (gore)?: He can, not very well, but can.

Is there a kind of person which they wouldn't get along with?: Someone who doesn't work hard.


	2. Chapter 2

**First off, I really want to thank everyone who submitted, the spot have all been filled and I have lots of great OC's, as it is usually the case, I wasn't able to really fit every OC I got into the limited amount of spots, for that, I am really sorry.**

 **Thank you very much for your OC!**

 **Accepted OC's/Cast:**

 **:Genin:**

 **-Yukimura Etsuko (F)**

 **-Akira Odonata (F)**

 **-Kotaka Ko (F)**

 **-Akari Raiu (F)**

 **-Mirai Kei (M)**

 **-Ito Taro (M)**

 **-Amane Yuuta (M)**

 **-Garasue Aki (M)**

 **-Torao Tamotsu (M)**

 **:Jonin:**

 **-Kurama Shu (M)**

 **-Kotoya Ichiyusai (M)**

 **-Arashi Kyoko (F)**

 **:Other:**

 **-Shuuya Satoru (M)**

 **-Aoi Chigusa (F)**

 **-("Other" spots open)**

 **Anyway, I had a much better author note and early chapter but for some reason my computer just plain out deleted what I had done (it wasn't much, just around 1k words) but it could have also very likely been my mistake. Ah well, what can you do about it?**

 **I'm gonna be writing this until very late even though I got school tomorrow, I just realized that no matter how long I sleep I'm still going to feel like crap the whole day.**

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Chapter 1- The Test (Part 1)

Yuuta happily hummed as he entered the large red building known as Konoha's Ninja Academy, there was nobody around yet since he was pretty early which made it easy for him to relax before the 3 Tests for graduation. Right after entering the building, he was met by one of the nicest people in the academy which made his early day even better.

"Good morning, Mizuki-sensei!" Yuuta happily waved his hand at the long bluish white haired Chunin who smiled back at him, the green eyed man wearing a bandanna walked closer to the shorter dark-haired boy who noticed he wore the same standard Konoha-nin outfit as always.

Mizuki-sensei smiled once again "Aren't you a good one Yuuta, arriving all early and stuff?" He kept his left hand casually in his pocket as he happily praised the young boy.

"I wouldn't call myself 'good' Mizuki-sensei…" To be honest, Yuuta wasn't exactly a bad kid either, simply one prone to go with the flow of things.

The white-haired male chuckled "Well, good luck in your tests Yuuta, I've got to head out on a quick errand" Mizuki excused himself and walked past the pale amber eyed boy, slightly waving his right hand as he did.

"Ah well, Mizuki-sensei really is a nice guy after all… if only Iruka-sensei could be a little less strict like him…" Yuuta proceeded to make his way through the Academy, the hallways were empty as he expected. He took a moment to reflect on them, this same hallways and walls had watched some of the mightiest Shinobi of history grow up into the heroes they eventually became. It was a very large pair of shoes to fill. Yuuta sunk his hands into his gray jacket's pockets and sighed, how could he expect to fill them? He had already failed the test last year with failing grades on all subjects even after doing remarkably well through the year of classes and practices, some could argue that it was because of nerves and anxiety but he had still failed nonetheless. Yuuta didn't stop training after that, well, he trained as much as his other chores and part-time jobs allowed. He felt ready this time, no one was stopping him now…

"Just watch me do it!" The determination inside him blew up in an instant, causing his thoughts to come out loud. Surely no one would have heard him… right?

"Hmph, you better back that up" Right, it had to be _her._ Yuuta turned around to be met by the stare of a pair of stormy gray eyes belonging to a light pinkish haired girl with light fair skin, her ponytail swayed as she walked past Yuuta, not even caring for waiting to hear his reply to her 'threat'. She wore a sleeveless gray shirt with a black lightning bolt on the back, a pair of black long finger-less gloves and navy blue shorts with knee-high black sandals. Yuuta frowned, _Akari Raiu_ wasn't gonna get away with that.

"You know Akari, I…" Before Yuuta could finish, he was interrupted by Akari herself.

"I don't want to hear it, Yuuta" She quickly turned around the corner of the hallway, leaving towards their classroom. Yuuta was frustrated to say the least, but quickly let it out along with another sigh. He couldn't afford to get all riled up today.

Today was a hot day (either that, or the frustration made Yuuta's body heat up), so Yuuta unzipped his jacket near the collar, revealing a fishnet shirt underneath. However, he soon felt someone else pat his shoulder, turning around, he was met by one of his friends in the academy.

"Is she already giving you a though time?" A bright hazel-eyed teen asked, his long dark hair with white streaks long and spiked backwards. Standing about as tall as Yuuta and with an open red flak jacket revealing a fishnet shirt much like Yuuta's, black trousers and sandals also adorned his body.

"Ah, Kei, nice to see someone who doesn't think he's all superior to everyone else" _Mirai Kei_ chuckled.

"I can relate" He kept walking forward and Yuuta followed closely after him, he guessed getting distracted by Mizuki-sensei gave some other early people time to catch up to him. Yuuta and Kei were pretty good friends and also the two strongest Taijutsu fighters in their class. Whenever they sparred they usually had to be separated by Iruka-sensei since neither would be able to beat the other at all. Though each one insisted they would eventually win if they weren't stopped.

They eventually reached the classroom and stepped inside, as usual, it was a very large classroom with many desks and a podium where the teacher would stand. Able to see every single student in the classroom, getting away with talking or not paying attention was a very hard feat to accomplish. Yuuta noticed some people already inside, namely some well-known hardworkers such as Akari and Yukimura Etsuko, the always well-prepared Taro Ito and Kei himself who had left to his desk without saying anything to Yuuta, noticeably not interested in talking any further. Being too bored to simply spend the rest of the time alone studying, Yuuta decided to go spend some minutes with the shortest person in the class… namely Taro. Walking over to him he quickly noticed he hadn't grown even an inch, still being a full head taller than the grayish brown haired boy. Wearing a pair of gray trousers and a thick tan-colored hooded jacket, the short boy adorned his appearance with fingerless gray gloves and the standard ninja sandals, as well as one of his trademarks, a dull-green oversized utility belt around his waist. However, the most impressive of his trademarks was missing.

"Oh, you didn't bring that huge backpack today, huh?" Yuuta asked Taro pretty casually, startling the short boy a bit. Taro was the 'scaredy' kind of person, but not to the point where he was a social shut-in or anything like that. To most people Taro was a normal hardworking and kind kid.

"Uh… no, I thought it would weight me down during the Physical Test" Yuuta laughed a bit at the dark brown eyed boy's statement.

"Well, that's to be expected, that backpack might be bigger and heavier than you!" Taro laughed nervously as well, Yuuta was too friendly for the short boy's good.

The loud noise of the door slamming open startled everyone inside, who pretty much already knew who it was.

"I'm here!" a teal green haired short boy saluted as he walked in, nobody minded him though. Probably the noisiest person in the class just above Yuuta, a young boy named _Garasue Aki_. The boy wears a black male battle-style kimono-top under a high-collared white jacket as well as black trousers. His pale peach skinned face smiled brightly as he made his way over to Yuuta and Taro, once again unsettling the younger boy.

"You arrived early, Yuu!" The green-haired boy was pretty loud, but he managed to keep himself in check as to not be a bother.

"Well, it is an important day ya' know!? I'm surprised you actually arrived before Iruka-sensei" The green-haired boy chuckled, finally taking notice of the shorter boy next to Yuuta.

"Oh, Chibitaro! Didn't see you there" Taro frowned a bit at the mention of a recent nickname that was being thrown around for him. It really described his size very well. Aki didn't have any bad intentions calling him that though.

A few moments of awkward chatter between the green-haired and short boys was enough to make Yuuta lose interest there so he looked around the classroom with his pale amber eyes. More and more people had started arriving and filling the classroom, Iruka-sensei probably wasn't going to take much longer to arrive as well. In a desk nearby, he noticed another of his fellow male classmates, his dark crimson hair shaved on one side gave it away. He was Torao Tamotsu, one of the younger students in the class at 11 years old. Yuuta and Tamotsu were never really in good terms since they met each other, mainly because of their clashing philosophies regarding hard work. On one side, Yuuta was the 'one step at a time' kind of hard worker. He tackled things slowly and with care, preferring to 'master one thing rather than just barely be able to do a thousand'. On the other hand, Tamotsu always seemed like he was on a rush and was of the 'Get better as soon as possible' kind. He was a bit known for getting frustrated easily whenever something didn't go as he planned… and it seemingly happened pretty often since you could regularly hear him muttering some weird curses under his breath. He seemed to be hastily going over his notes for the written test, much like some other students in the class. Yuuta preferred not to stress himself too much and take it with calm.

Meanwhile, a couple of girls lively talked with each other in the opposite end of the classroom. Kotaka Ko and Akira Odonata were 'friends' of sorts, neither of them was overly good at making friends because they were either a little arrogant or didn't care enough to do so (respectively), which led them to eventually end up together. Ko is a very tall girl for her age, with a slightly tanned skin tone, pale pink long hair and hazel eyes, you could argue that she looked slightly older than she really is. Wearing a yellow shoulder-less long sleeved shirt that fell past her waist to mid-thigh length and a tan colored skirt and a black waistband to act as a belt and also had light blue ninja sandals.

"Come on Akira, there is no way I won't make it!" Ko smirked to Akria, who was also pretty tall. She had fair skin and straight black hair with nearly golden-colored eyes. Wearing a tight white tank top under an open black haori with her clan's symbol of a dragonfly in gold, high waist shorts that puff out to hide the pockets and end at mid thigh and closed toe ankle boots.

"I wouldn't be so sure Ko, you still have to pass the Physical Test" Ko stated matter-of-factly, in contrast to Ko's more free-flowing, proud attitude. Akira had a calmer and slow-paced behavior, maybe even a little detached.

"Well, right back at you!" Ko retorted, causing Akira to sigh. They were both Genjutsu 'specialists' at their young age, having focused on training their minds at this young age had left their physical capabilities a bit down. Despite of that, they had much better chakra-control than most girls and boys their age could admit having.

Taking notice of the hard-working girl right next to them, Ko decided to approach her.

"Etsu-chan, what are you doing?" The pink-haired girl asked, leaning into Yukimura Etsuko's desk, drawing the dark purple, nearly black haired pale girl's attention towards her. Her light brown eyes looked very tired. She probably spent a large chunk night preparing for today's test. Etsuko, like Ko, is a very tall girl for her age, but then again, it is true that girls develop faster than boys during their pre-teen years. Etsuko's hair was work in a high ponytail, she also wore a black combat-style kimono with green accents and a dark green obi with her clan's symbol (a red snowflake) on the back. Tight fitting dark green pants were tucked inside her standard Shinobi sandals and her arms were bandaged all-over, a usual trait from her clan.

"Oh, just looking over some last-minute things. Did you do study as well?" Etsuko asked, finally closing her notebook.

"Of course, who do you think I am!?" Ko had always been a little too self-confident, but people from her class had already gotten very used to it. There wasn't really anyone getting angry about it anymore.

The classroom door opened loudly, revealing the tan-skinned Iruka-sensei coming inside with a pile of tests on his hand. Immediately, everyone ran to their desks including Yuuta, Taro and Aki.

Iruka was pleased. All the students who would undergo the test from this class had arrived in time and way before him, out of all the classes, his was the most special one. There were some sons and daughters from some clans. A couple of kids who possessed already developing Kekkei Genkai and most were hardworkers which often brought a smile to his face, he loved students like those.

He cleared his throat "Welcome everyone, as you know, today you will undergo your graduation tests, the Mental Test, the Technical Test and the Physical Test" He took a moment to make sure everyone was paying attention. "You need to score at least over a C on average to pass, but don't get complacent, you must aim to do your absolute best!"

"These Tests will define your future as Shinobi and Kunoichi. You must definitely not take them lightly!"

The students were suddenly nervous with some few exceptions. A couple of other Chunin walked into the room and started passing around the Tests that Iruka had on the podium. Once they were done, they walked to the back of the room where they would watch over the students making sure nobody tried to copy. There was only one Hyuga in the class but he had already promised not to use his Byakugan, which made things easier for the observers.

"You can begin the written test now, good luck to everyone!" Iruka-sensei clapped his hands once and immediately pencils started moving, the Test was very basic in that it basically revolved around 'The Basics' and the Shinobi Rules.

Yuuta stared at the first question:

 _What is the Rule #4 of Shinobi?_

He smirked, an easy one that no one should forget about, he put his pencil down in the sheet of paper and wrote (although with slightly poor handwriting):

" _A Shinobi must always put the mission first."_

He always thought this rule was a controversial one, it basically forces you to abandon your squad if you must just for the sake of the mission. When he had asked Chigusa-neechan about it she practically gave him a full lecture about how rules are situational and that he should never abandon his friends and whatnot. He didn't even need to hear about it though. He wasn't the kind of boy who would leave anyone behind.

The rest of the exam was just as simple, he couldn't believe nerves had gotten the best of him last time! Pictures of hand-seals which you had to name, 5 examples of Shinobi Tools and their purpose as well as some basic history regarding Konoha and the Three Shinobi Wars (though he didn't know some of those) Until it came… that question…

 _Your teammate is bleeding out and your Target is running away, what do you do?_

The same question which left him frozen out last time… there was supposedly no right or wrong answer and the morally-correct choice here was obviously to help your teammate… but in the Shinobi World such morals don't apply… The rules stated that the mission had priority.

The minutes passed as the clock ticked and the dark-haired boy hadn't found his answer yet, he saw people… Etsuko and Akari, Kei and Taro, even Ko and Aki already handing out their test back to Iruka-sensei. How could they take a question such as this so lightly!?

Meanwhile, Akira merely watched as some less-fortunate students struggled with their tests, her clan was specialized in reading other people's emotions, as such, she found it a bit amusing to see other people in 'despair' as she could easily tell how their brains where in chaos. She looked down to her test which was already finished, it really was nothing special. So she wondered why some other kids found it so hellish.

Sweat formed on the pre-teen's forehead as the pencil shacked on his right hand. He stared blankly at the last question of his test, the question that had beaten him last time. A moral conflict raged on his head as his heart and his brain tore themselves to pieces inside his body. He could go with the Shinobi-correct answer and get it done right away… but then he'd be lying to himself… that was not his ninja way. He had sworn to always do the right thing at the right time. This time however, both possible answers were right and wrong at the same time. In a sense, it was an unbeatable system.

Unless, of course, there was a way around said system...

The alarm clock Iruka had set-up to signal the end of the test rang and the amber-eyed teen dashed toward Iruka, handing him the Test. The tan-skinned sensei noticed a proud smirk on the boy's face as he released the grip on his test, was he able to do it?

Iruka discreetly turned the pages of the boy's test, there were a couple of wrong answers regarding History, but the important question was the last one. Iruka's eyes widened as he read the answer the boy had written and once Mizuki had taken them all out of the classroom and out to the training-grounds for the 2-Stage Practical Test he finally let out a burst of laughter.

"This kid… seriously…" Iruka panted as he recovered from his laughter and laid the test down on his podium with all the other ones and followed after the group, closing the door to the classroom after him.

In the white sheet of paper and under the last question, written in jagged, hastily done letters was the boy's answer:

" _I throw my teammate over my shoulder and give that bastard the chase of his life!"_

* * *

 **And there we go!**

 **I kind of managed to introduce all the Genin OC's in this chapter, I'm sorry if the introductions and the overall chapter felt a little bit rushed, I promise it'll get better once we get into the regular story and out of the introductory parts.**

 **Sorry to the people who sent a Jonin-sensei, your OC's will make their appearance once the students pass their test… if they pass them, that is.**

 **Now, regarding the "Last Question" on Yuuta's test, some of you may have noticed but most of you probably didn't. That question was unique for Yuuta's test since that is the obstacle which made him fail the Test last time. Cool, right?**

 **Now, I'd really appreciate a review, tell me how I did (whether it is criticism or praise) which OC's you liked the best and such things. Feedback is really, really appreciated to help me improve!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks to everyone for the reviews! I don't usually do this but I'll be replying to any reviews in the A/N at the end of every chapter, so if you want to be answered by your super kawaii~ Yamada-senpai then you know what to do, my loves ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)**

 **Regarding some of the common questions, I did write the last chapter from Yuuta's perspective for the most part. However, the bulk of the story will have varying perspectives since I will have lots and lots of arcs and side-arcs and special chapters going around. Major Arcs will focus mostly on the Genin teams and their Sensei (The main cast and primary storyline per say), side-arcs will be focusing on individual characters and their problems (these will probably only last like a couple of chapters to keep the story moving) and special chapters could be considered "filler" but will only happen like once every blue moon… or is the word "filler" taboo in this fandom!? D:**

 ***NOTE: By request of his creator, Torao Tamotsu's name has been changed to Torao Akihiko. To avoid confusion, I'll be referring to him as "Torao" for most of the chapter.**

* * *

Chapter 1- The Test (Part 2)

The groups of students lined up in the training grounds outside of the academy, there were around 30 prospects remaining after the Mental Test. If you didn't finish that one in time you were automatically out of the picture. It was still fairly early in the morning, therefore the sun was sparing and the weather was perfect even with a nice breeze to it. 3 Chunin stood in front of the Genin-prospects. Each one would oversee one aspect of the Practical Test. Mizuki would test their physical conditioning and attributes such as strength, speed, etc. Iruka would then evaluate their Ninja Arts and Jutsu, easily the most important part of the test. Finally, a recent addition the the Academy would put their fighting skills to the test via sparring. His name is Takuma Yasu, a large and big stern-looking man with tanned skin and light brown hair in a bun, as well as narrow, piercing green eyes very similar to Mizuki's.

"Now everyone, we'll proceed to the next stage of the Test. I'd like the boys to please follow Mizuki-sensei deeper into the training grounds where he'll evaluate your body's condition, meanwhile, the girls stay with me" Iruka declared with a very authoritative voice, the male students acknowledged him and proceeded to follow the white-haired male to the practice grounds where they could already see several things set up.

It was the usual training-course they were used to perform. However, there was a large difficulty increase. The usual climbing wall was much higher. A fall from up there could be fatal if you weren't careful enough. After the wall, students had to sprint until they reached a long stretch covered with rows of wooden posts, students would then have to climb the first wooden post and jump their way across all of them at high speed, once missed step and you would fall into a pond. If you fell, you were out. After the posts came an agility test which was made up from an obstacle course, there were wooden posts of different colors tightly spread along the track. A long and slim white post meant that you had to go around and a shorter, wider green post meant that you had to jump over it. A last, red "T" shaped post-type meant that the students would need to duck under it. At high speeds, this also tested the student's target recognition. Finally, the students would test their strength and balance by jumping into another long line of closely positioned wooden posts. However, this time students had to navigate their way around the posts using only their hands, which meant walking on their hands while also taking care not to fall into another pond. Finally, a last stretch of track had to be sprinted at their highest possible speed, and then they were done.

It looked simple enough, but the students also had a time-limit which increased the risk of mistakes being made.

Mizuki cleared his throat and looked at the group "We'll do it in sets of 5 at a time to speed things up" The students sweat-dropped. The test looked a tad-bit too dangerous.

Soon enough, 5 boys (some eager to impress their classmates) walked their way over to the line as the first volunteers: Yuuta, Aki, Torao, Taro and Kei stood ready at the starting line.

"I won't lose to you today, Yuu!" The green-haired Aki looked straight into the pale amber eyes of Yuuta. They had a friendly rivalry of sorts regarding some of their performance aspects. Yuuta zipped his gray jacket all the way back up, it could get a bit 'warm' inside, but he didn't want the flaps getting in the way.

The dark haired boy smirked "I won't go down easily, Aki" He then looked to his right and at brownish-gray haired short boy known as Taro, who looked a bit nervous and totally didn't feel like talking at all. Another spot to the right and at the edge of the track stood Torao, who also seemed to be concentrating as much as he could, not unlike Kei, who had been dead silent for a while now.

"Guess they all want to win this one, huh… Might as well try my hardest just like them!" Yuuta readied his stance with a very eager smirk on his face. They soon heard Mizuki counting down… "5… 4… 3… 2… 1…"

In what seemed like a flash to all the other students, the 5 boys completely disappeared leaving a trail of dust behind them. Taro initially struggled to keep up with the other 4 as his short legs only have him so much speed, but he still wasn't being left behind by much. The rest was nearly evenly matched, with Kei and Yuuta taking the early lead and Aki and Torao stuck somewhere in between. In a matter of seconds they were already at the climbing wall, due to their high speeds, Yuuta and Kei had a hard time to slow down and nearly crashed into the wall, giving Aki and then Torao time to catch up to them. By the time their hands were on the brick wall (it was a brick wall to simulate an actual infiltration situation) Taro had already caught up as well.

The gaps between the bricks were painful to grab, but the 5 boys skillfully made their way to the top in nearly no time. Torao accidently slipped and went down a couple of bricks, muttering an overly complicated curse word in his frustration. Such word caught the ears of Aki and Yuuta, causing them to laugh and slip down a couple of bricks as well.

"These idiots…" Kei muttered under his breath as he reached the top. To his surprise, it wasn't Yuuta who got to the top next. Instead, it was Taro, whose small size and low weight made it effortless to climb walls like these.

"Not bad shorty" He looked at Taro with his bright hazel eyes before letting himself fall to the other side of the wall where a cushion awaited them. Taro followed after a few moments of hesitation, and not before long, all the other boys soon followed.

After another short sprint, they were faced with the wooden posts. However, they were surprised to find out that they weren't the usual 4-foot posts that they seemed to be from a distance, instead, they were at least twice as tall. The group of boys looked back at Mizuki-sensei with a questioning look on their faces, while the white-haired male simply shrugged.

"See you later fools!" Yuuta suddenly ran past them and fearlessly jumped into the first post of his row without any hesitation. Causing the other boys to follow soon after him, they all jumped into their own posts and followed after the dark-haired boy. A fall here could not only mean the end for them but also a serious injury. Some, like Taro and Torao, chose to take it slow and carefully making sure their steps were always spot on. Others, like Kei and Aki, simply rushed through it as fast as they could. While Yuuta was somewhere in between, struggling a bit since being all the way up to the front felt a bit awkward.

"Got'cha!" Aki tapped Yuuta in the shoulder as he went past him, soon followed by the long-haired Kei.

Yuuta cursed, and sped up after them followed by Torao and Taro who also sped up their pace.

One last leap forward and they were out of the danger of falling down to the pond and into the maze of wooden posts, Taro went inside without any hesitation, he knew his small size would benefit him greatly in this part of the test.

As they dodged left, right, up and down, they couldn't help but to hit each other every few seconds, causing them to shout at each other from inside the tangled maze of wood. Mizuki looked at them from a distance… in their own unique way they were all airheads in the end.

Torao skipped around posts with his head kept low, hitting any of the posts was the end for you. However, it was fairly easy as long as you kept a consistent pace and your mind focused. Taro and Aki had little to no problem as they were shorter and therefore better at navigating through obstacles while the taller Yuuta and Kei found it more energy-consuming. Still not a problem for anyone, but the next part would surely be.

Aki and Taro were the first to emerge, the green-haired boy grinning as he did. Though they were shortly followed by everyone else, it would be a tight race until the very end. Once again, Yuuta launched himself with no hesitation toward the now regular-sized wooden posts, somersaulting his way into a handstand with a hand in each one. He knew that if he hesitated it was the end for him, once again driven by the desire of not wanting to be left behind they all followed though with a more careful maneuver rather than outright somersaulting into the posts, not everyone was as acrobatic as Yuuta was. In fact, that was pretty much the amber-eyed boy's specialty.

The start… wasn't pleasing to say the least. The entire weight of their bodies focused on the palm of their hands against a rough wooden surface wasn't a pretty feeling. Balancing their bodies with their legs as they were taught and slowly –and painfully- the 5 boys slowly made their way from post to post. Taro cringed with every small 'step' he took, his low weight made it easy but he still wasn't really physically built for this. Yuuta's flashy entrance messed up his rhythm and pace which caused him to put a lot of effort throughout his whole body just to keep it straight. Sweat started dripping down his forehead. His forearms, shoulders and abdomen felt like they were burning and he was pretty sure everyone felt the same. The key was simply taking it one step of a time.

Mizuki watched the young boys struggle from afar. He thought they were taking it seriously enough which was obviously a good thing.

A couple of minutes later, the group of boys was already out of the hellish part of the test. They still had a final sprint to run though. They all slowly picked up the pace and started running with their sore bodies.

The rest of the students cheered for their tired classmates as they worked their way into amazing speeds, sadly, Taro and Torao were most definitely left behind this time as the other 3 boys competiveness fueled their way to the finish line, rising up a cloud of dust along the running track.

" _I'll definitely win!"_ Yuuta thought as he closed his eyes, not caring about who was ahead of who and simply pouring all of his energy into his legs. After a few more moments of speed a dark, he finally heard the whistle that signaled the end of their small journey.

Curiosity struck the 3 boys who had given it their all by the end. They approached their sensei with a competitive shine in their eyes.

"Who won!?" The trio consisting of Kei, Aki and Yuuta exclaimed at once, but the green-eyed Mizuki could only shrug as an answer.

"It wasn't really a race, plus you guys were running in a cloud of dust, I couldn't tell" Disappointed, the 3 boys plopped to the ground giving in to their tiredness. Torao approached them while shaking his heads.

"You idiots, we still have 2 stages left and you are all out of gas" He declared matter-of-factly, walking past them. He had so totally not given it his all in the last sprint… that or he was just plain slow.

"Shit…" Kei muttered after a deep breath, Torao was right. At least they had time to rest before their next stage started.

Yuuta looked around for Taro as he was nowhere to be seen, after looking around for a while he could finally make out a form laying on the floor under the disappearing cloud of dust… it couldn't be, right?

"CHIBITARO!" He heard the green-haired Aki shout, and yes indeed.

Taro passed out.

* * *

Iruka looked at the future Kunoichi, as it was usually the case they all seemed to be very well prepared and focused. One of the major differences between most boys and most girls at this age, though it typically evened out in the following years. That he knew for his own experience.

The tan-skinned sensei cleared his throat "Now, I want you to step up front one by one from each row"

Upon hearing that, Ko was the first one to step up, eager to prove herself.

"Kotaka Ko, huh?" Iruka analyzed her as the tanned girl stood ready for his instructions, she was a former academy graduate sent back by her first sensei… a though thing to go through.

From the other rows Akira Odonata, Yukimua Etsuko and Akari Raiu were the ones who stepped in. Iruka laughed nervously, they were all so talented with their chakra control that it was almost unfair with Akari Raiu being the only one who wasn't a Genjutsu specialist, and it didn't matter though, for her Ninjutsu was top-notch for an academy student.

"Now, I want you to transform into Mizuki-sensei, easy enough right?" Iruka thought it was good to begin with the basic Transformation Jutsu, though the girls would pretty much ace it with no problem at all.

The girls nod and easily perform the three seals necessary for the technique, Dog, Boar and Ram. With a puff of white smoke, all three girls have turned into the silver-haired Mizuki.

Iruka walks around the transformed girls, analyzing the replicated form of his childhood friend. They all seemed to do it right on the first try, which he already expected anyway.

"Good, now for the next part…" The girls all reverted to their original forms with yet another puff of white smoke, Ko grins proudly, it was way too easy. The rest simply shrug it.

Akira looks at Etsuko. The Odonata clan is special in that they can usually read most people like an open book. However, she simply couldn't read her at all, as it was often the case with highly intelligent people. Such a fact stressed the black-haired girl beyond measure.

"Now, I want you to use the Clone Technique, is that alright?" Iruka laughed nervously again, this test really felt like nothing for the group of 4 girls in front of him. The girls nodded and proceeded to go through the hand seals for the technique, 4 puffs of smoke were heard and from them, perfect copies of the girls were revealed. Iruka smirked proudly.

"Not bad at all" The group of girls nodded again, with Ko feeling very proud of herself. This caused Akari to get annoyed, she shot a glare at the tan skinned girl, a glare that was easily noticed by her.

"Got a problem?" She asked as the incorporeal clones disappeared in a clean puff of white smoke.

"Yeah, right" Akari just rolled her eyes, was there anyone she didn't dislike at least a bit?

Iruka faked a cough to bring the girls' attention back to him, he had to give them another task, it wasn't fair to just let them pass with something as easy as that. He thought for a minute until an idea suddenly came to the tanned man's face, he smiled. It was perfect.

"Now, I want you to use both" The girls looked at him with puzzled faces, what did he mean by 'both'?

"I want you to use your Clone Technique and then have your Clone transform into Mizuki, while you, the originals, have to transform into me" It was confusing, to say the least.

"I think I understand" Etsuko was the first one to get to it. She conjured her clone once again. The clone and the original Etsuko nodded at each other and began going through their seals, when they finished, a cloud of white smoke enveloped them. All the girls and their sensei eagerly waited for the smoke to dissipate, and when it did… Two Irukas!?

The two Etsuko's reverted back

"W-what?" She couldn't believe she failed, it seemed easy enough.

Ko followed after her with the same result, and so did Akira and Akari, all ending up with two Irukas.

"Why?" Etsuko felt very puzzled, she just couldn't comprehend what was wrong even after her second try, her dark purple hair swaying as she shook her head.

"There must be some trick to this…" Akira muttered to herself. Focusing on the pink-haired girl who seemed to be struggling as much as her, Ko looked as frustrated as she was.

Iruka smiled proudly "Do you give up?" It was indeed a tougher thing to do, none of the 4 girls had figured out the key to their little special assignment.

Etsuko was in deep thought, remembering all the mechanics about both jutsu looking for a clue as to how to accomplish their task. After a few seconds, she finally found it.

"I got it for real this time" The genius girl proceeded to create a clone and transform it, this time and to everyone's surprise, she finally got it right, One Mizuki and One Iruka.

Iruka was stunned, but quickly smiled. He knew she would be the one to find out the trick behind it.

Etsuko reverted back to her regular form and dispelled her clone. She cleared her throat before commencing her explanation.

"Basic Clones are only created to follow a single objective, if we create our clone while also thinking about how we'll transform into Iruka-sensei then the clone will be created with the same objective in mind. It is actually quite simple" Her explanation awarded her a loud 'woah' from the girls waiting for their turn.

"Good… this was just an extra activity and not related to the test at all, yet you handled it completely well, not bad at all Etsuko" Iruka-sensei praised the dark purple haired girl who simply smiled.

"Tsch" Akari rolled her eyes and simply started heading in the direction of the Physical Test, they'd be changing places with the boys as soon as they finished here.

Ko giggled a little "You failed Akira!"

Akira sighed "So did you, but we passed the real test beforehand so it's alright"

The light haired Akari approached Etsuko, clearly feeling upset that someone actually found out the secret behind the little extra challenge before her.

"How did you do it?" She stared with her stormy gray eyes, trying to intimidate Etsuko.

"If you had studied more you would have been able to find out as well, that is all" She turned around quickly, clearly not wanting to start an argument with the brash girl.

"Hmph" Akari rolled her eyes and turned back as well, leaving Ko and Akira very confused in the middle.

 _They really didn't like each other…_

The rest was fairly simple. After all the boys and girls finished their respective parts they exchanged places and underwent the other test. Nearly all of the students managed to pass their simple yet grueling assignments and were told to wait by the sparring area.

The toughest test was about to begin…

* * *

 **Sorry if it felt a bit rushed by the end, I promise that is the last time I do this, but going back to school and taking this long to update… I just felt like releasing this one as quickly as I could.**

 **Worry not. The next chapter will definitely be much, much more entertaining with all the fighting going on ;)**

* * *

 **To motordog-**

 **It most definitely is, but the key is simply getting into a flow and rhythm with all the new characters and from there it goes much, much smoother.**

 **To Guest-**

 **Anonymously complaining about it earns you nothing, you could instead PM me again so I can give you a couple of helpers with your OC. The same goes to anyone whose OC didn't get picked.**

 **MissAmeliaYoung-**

 **Did I make them that long? Huh, I guess I did. I tried to keep the paragraphs shorter this once after hearing your feedback, lots of thanks!**

 **InariKurenai-**

 **Not much of a special test to be honest, it's just what most Genin would have had to go through. Also, I didn't confirm that any of the OC's would fail… did i?**

 **Neocolai-**

 **This is actually before Mizuki goes crazy, so he is still a fairly nice guy as far as we all know e.e**


	4. Chapter 4

**I'm back again! Sorry I took a little while to update again, I twisted my ankle playing volleyball (I reeeeeallly don't know how I managed to do that xD) and it has been hurting like hell. And pain isn't exactly the greatest motivation to write ya' know!? Physical Pain, not the orange haired one with the god-complex hehe~ (I'm sorry Pain-sama, don't hurt me T.T)**

 ***To avoid confusing between Akira, Akari and (Torao) Akihiko, I'll be nicknaming Akari to "Kari" and Akihiko will probably stay as Torao.**

 ***I decided to make Shadow Clone Jutsu available to Yuuta from the beginning since I realized he only had two jutsu to use xD. He'll only be able to make a single clone at a time though.**

 **Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter! Reviews feed the fire in my belly~**

* * *

Chapter 2: Can you fight your friends?

All the students lined up in front of the newest sensei in the academy, some students had already been kicked out from miserably failing either of the two previous tests and not scoring enough points. One of the students who nearly did fail let out a big sigh.

"Almost didn't make it…" Taro muttered, he was half-passed out as soon as the physical test ended though he did make it past the finish line. Mizuki-sensei managed to confirm it, and since the 5 hasty students were going so fast that they beat the time limit by over 2 minutes they all had enough points to go through the Practical Test with only mediocre grades and still make it to the final stage. And such had been Taro's case. He was too physically exhausted to concentrate on the Practical Test, he could only hope to be rested enough to make it past this one.

The huge man known as Takuma Yasu eyed the Students and nodded to Iruka who was watching from a distance, they all seemed ready for the test that would take in the sparring area.

From the initial large number of Students, only 20 remained…

" _Ten matches…"_ He thought

"Attention!" The tanned man's voice commanded with authority, immediately stopping the chatter from within the 5 lines of students. He cleared his throat.

"As you all know, the next part of the Practical Test is a sparring match. The rules are simple…" He crossed his arms behind his back and began walking around the spread out lines in a sergeant-like manner, with his two extra forehead protectors secured on his arms catching the attention of some of the students.

"One, the two opponents must face each other and make the Seal of Confrontation" Yuuta recalled the single-hand seal, but didn't understand why it was important.

"Two, you must give it your all, Taijutsu, Ninjutsu and Genjutsu are all allowed but the aim is not to kill your opponent." Kari grew impatient. She had heard enough of this already.

"Three, since a lot of students made it through the first part of the test… We'll put a 5 minute time-limit on every fight. If you knock out your opponent before the time limit, the victory is yours. If not, Mizuki, Iruka and I will be the judges and will vote to determine the winner"

"And finally, when the spar is over, both participants make the Seal of Reconciliation" That one was a touchy subject for some, it meant that even if you just kicked each other's asses, you were still comrades.

"Is that clear!?" The man raised his voice, making it echo through the training grounds.

"Yes!" The students confirmed, proceeding to sit around the white line of the circular area that was the sparring area, it was large enough that the 20 academy students could all sit comfortably. Though they did sit several feet away to stay safe from any collateral damage that might occur.

Hearing the rolling and creaking of small wheels, the students turned around to see Iruka-sensei bringing a small metal cart which carried two small boxes with a hand-sized opening on top of it. A red box and a blue box, the students knew what it meant. Iruka would probably take a paper from the red box and one from the blue box to make the match-ups random.

"We will now begin" Iruka-sensei buried both of his hands into the small boxes, taking out two small papers. He turned back to the students and opened the one in his right hand.

"Akira Odonata" The elegant black haired girl nodded and stood up, making her way to her side of the circle. Oddly calm for a girl who has the opening round of the spars.

"vs... Garasue Aki!" The green haired boy jumped up from his sitting position, a big grin on his face. He was a bit disappointed that he didn't get to fight Yuuta, but any match was a good match!

As the green haired boy made his way to his position, Torao looked over to the boy sitting next to him. Yuuta carefully analyzed the matchup with his pale amber eyes"

"What do you think?" Torao asked, turning back to see the two opponents getting ready.

Yuuta sighed "It'll be a very technical fight. Neither of them is good at Taijutsu, so tne result will come down to who makes the first mistake. Akira will try to take advantage of her Genjutsu and Aki will probably use his Kekkei Genkai to his advantage."

Torao suddenly looked a bit startled "Kekkei Genkai… him?" Yuuta chuckled.

"Well, something like that. He doesn't always use it, but I always end up giving up whenever he uses it against me" Tarou thought he didn't hear right, did he just hear THAT Yuuta say he gave up against someone.

Yuuta noticed his surprise "Well… let's just say I'd rather keep my body in a single piece during a SPAR" He emphasized the last word, so that's what he meant when he said that he gave up, but still… keep his body in a single piece?

Aki grinned at the calm looking girl in front of him, this was ought to be interesting.

"Say, you won't get mad if I hurt you?" Aki asked as he made the Sign of Confrontation with his right hand, keeping a smirk in his face.

Akira didn't reply and simply answered back with a seal of her own, he was going to be annoying to fight…

Yasu eyed both students, they were ready.

"Start!"

As soon as they were given the clear, they both made more distance between each other, nearly all the way to the edges of the circle. Both analyzed their form and movements closely, this was going to be a slow fight just as Yuuta predicted.

Akira immediately found the opportunity to cast one of her illusions, she threw a bunch of senbon at the green haired boy and went through a series of hand seals.

"Tonbo Sting"

Aki watched as the senbon turned into golden dragonflies… such a seamless transition, so this was a fight with a pure Genjutsu specialist!?

But it had been too obvious. In such an open area like this circular arena Genjutsu could be easily identified, he didn't even need to release the illusion from his mind. Aki simply ducked under the incoming projectiles and fired a single shuriken. Akira noticed the shuriken had a weird color… a glassy-green color… Shit.

"Glass Release: Shard Burst Technique" At his command, the shuriken exploded into many smaller shards. Akira, caught by surprise, got hit by a few of them on the arm as she rolled away from the strange jutsu.

She took a moment to analyze what had just happened. " _So this is the Garasue Clan's Kekkei Genkai, huh?"_ She took out the small shards of glass from her forearm, nowhere near fatal as the shards were very tiny, the small injuries would probably be a pain in the ass for the next few days though…

Aki repeated the same maneuver, this time throwing many more shuriken. Now THAT would hurt, and for way more than just a few days…

The golden eyed girl went through her hand seals again

"Wind Release: Wind Cutter Technique!" A sharp and strong current of wind was shot out towards the green haired boy, carrying all the small pieces of shrapnel back towards him, if he got hit by that combination it was game over. Yasu smirked, that was an amazing use of a wind release technique to throw all the small projectiles back at her opponent. Most people would have dodged instead of using the attack to their advantage.

Aki jumped up high into the air to avoid the powerful long-range jutsu, even some of the surrounding students had to get out of the way of that one. She had him out of focus now.

Akira went through three hand seals and muttered "Aerial Buzz" Suddenly Aki felt a surge of pain out of nowhere while still in midair, his hands immediately went to cover his ears.

"What is this!?" A loud buzzing sound flooded his ears, clearly a genjutsu. Aki brought his hands into a Ram Seal.

"Release!" The buzzing sound finally stopped and he landed, but he could no longer see the black haired girl in front of him.

Suddenly, Akira came and kicked him from above, landing the hit on his head. Both back stepped away from each other, but Akira resumed her assault with great speed. Aki had trouble dodging the golden-eyed girl's full assault, which also made it hard for him to think of a good strategy… time was going to run down and he would lose by decision at this rate!

" _She is fast but not strong at all… If I can just get a hold on her…"_ Strike in and strike out, Akira closed in the distance to hit a few times and then back stepped again, she possessed a lot of endurance for a Genjutsu specialist…

Aki carefully redirected her kicks and punches with his forearms, waiting for the right moment. As Akira jumped for an acrobatic kick he knew this was his chance, he got a hold of her leg and –albeit not very strongly- threw her away from him. Using the chance to go through his hand seals, this time he would try something different.

"Glass Release: Shard Spear!" Throwing a small glass shard from earlier, Aki made a last seal with both of his hands. The shard expanded in mid-air, creating a thin yet long and very fast senbon-like spear. Akira barely managed to twirl her body in midair to avoid it and when she just had regained her balance, Aki was already there to strike her with a proud grin on his face. His tactic had also worked.

As his fist inched closer to Akira's face, he was suddenly stopped by Yasu, startling the green-haired boy.

"What the heck!?" Aki protested in frustration, if he landed that hit he could have possibly knocked her out. Yasu-sensei shook his head.

"Time's up" He looked at the two other Chunin sensei who each had two small flags –one red and one blue- on their hands. They nodded and each raised the flag of the color they thought deserved the win. Akira was Red, Aki was Blue.

Iruka voted Red while Mizuki voted for Blue. Finally, Yasu took out a flag of his own, a Red flag. Akira had won by decision of the judges.

Akira smiled proudly, it was tighter than she would have liked. But the black-haired girl would take the win nonetheless. Aki was a bit disappointed, one more minute and he would have probably won, still, he had to admit that the Odonata possessed a frightening mind… Now, he couldn't be a sore loser in front of all his classmates, right?

The green-haired boy approached Akira, extending his index and middle fingers to perform the Seal of Reconciliation.

"Great match, Akira!" He smiled brightly at her, catching the Odonata by surprise. She could tell that the smile was genuine.

She answered the Seal and smiled as well "Yeah, you too"

The students went back to their places. They'd hear the result after all the spars had ended.

This time it was Mizuki who buried his hands into the boxes, taking out another couple of small papers and wasting no time to open them.

"Kotaka Ko" The tan skinned girl smiled proudly as she got up, surely nothing could go wrong…

"vs… Torao Akihiko!" Torao felt his heart skip a beat. He didn't expect to fight so soon. But nonetheless, a fight was a fight, and he had to beat the pink haired girl at all costs.

"Good luck" Yuuta wished him, though only half-heartedly. It was going to be another very technical, slightly boring (to him) battle. Torao is too water-dependant on his techniques and Ko is more of a support fighter. And there is neither a lot of water nor a lot of people to support around here. _"Oh lord"_ he thought, why couldn't he fight instead?

"Try to keep up kiddo!" Ko confidently mocked, though she was only about a year older than Torao. She performed her Seal of Confrontation and waited for the crimson haired boy to do the same.

"Yeah, right" He shrugged it off, performing a half-hearted seal himself.

"Start!" Yasu yelled, taking a few steps back from the center of the circle.

Once again, the two students simply eyed each other closely. Genjutsu specialists, very little talent for Taijutsu… with a single exception on either side

Both started the fight with throwing weapons to test the waters, Torao being fond of Senbon and Ko being well rounded with Kunai and Shuriken. Some of the weapons clashed in midair but they ended up having to move to dodge the rest. Ko started off with one of her favorite Genjutsu.

"Double Vision Technique" A quick seal and muttered incantation from the pink haired girl and Torao was already seeing doubles of everything, even the kunai she had just thrown at him again.

"Crap…" He struggled with dodging the illusion and as a result, the real kunai managed to hit his leg. He let out a long curse word unknown to the rest of humankind as he took it out despite the pain. Thankfully Ko had contained herself enough for it not to go past tip-deep into his leg.

He had an adequate weapon now. Despite it not being his style, he charged at the tan skinned Kunoichi. He had no other option, without water his own Genjutsu was very difficult to use. If only he could find a nearby puddle…

Ko dexterously dodged the dark eyed pale boy's rampage. If she was allowed to use Kichi, her hawk, she would be able to use her Genjutsu more effectively and she could put an end to this in a matter of seconds.

Ko back stepped as he threw a barrage of shuriken at the boy's feet to halt his assault, she could notice him already tired as sweat had already built up on his forehead. Wait… sweat?

Torao smiled, it worked. He wicked the sweat from his forehead and into the air. A couple of seals later allowed him to use his first genjutsu-ninjutsu joint combo.

"Water Release: Light Barrage" Suddenly, the water drops that formed from his sweat began reflecting the sunlight of the clear day, redirecting it to Ko's face and blinding her for a few seconds that he used to land a roundhouse kick right into the pink haired girl's abdomen, sending her flying a couple of meters. Anyone could make you pay if you were blinded in the middle of a fight.

Ko cursed under her breath, did she underestimate him?

Yasu sighed, this fight wasn't getting anywhere. They both proved their talent enough, there was no point in letting the fight reach five minutes and let it go to decision, and they were perfectly and evenly matched as well. He'd just stop it and declare it a draw instead.

"Stop!" The two kids in front of him looked at him confused.

"I'm declaring this a Draw" Iruka and Mizuki nodded in agreement "Finish up and go back to your places"

Torao sighed, he was right, they weren't getting anywhere. They were both support fighters even among Students as of right now. Besides, this small and open arena wasn't favorable to Genjutsu specialists at all. He got up and grudgingly performed the Seal of Reconciliation with Ko, who was almost as pissed off as himself and walked back to his place this time next to Kei… who seemed to be falling asleep.

Iruka once again made his way to the small boxes and wasted no time in getting to it.

"Akari Raiu" The light haired girl silently made her way to her spot, Yuuta smirked. This was about to get interesting. Even he had lost to Akari a few times in the past.

"vs… Endou Inuzuka!" A dark haired boy from the other class got up, wearing the usual Inuzuka garment consisting of a long gray coat and a pair of trousers. He let his loyal ninken puppy down in his spot to wait for him and confidently made his way to his spot. He was a boy from the other class and therefore many didn't know about him, only that his sharp green eyes oozed confidence and arrogance. Some people said that he literally fights as a dog as well.

He made his way to his spot and answered Akari's calm Seal of Confrontation. Finally, a fight between two close ranged fighters!

Akari analyzed her opponent, a dog-kid, he'd probably be as ferocious as any hound as well. Better for her, being reckless against a Raiu only earned you a swift defeat.

"Start!"

The Inuzuka quickly rushed toward Akari as she had predicted, however, she calmly initiated her Clan's Hiden technique.

"Lighting Release: Static Palm" From the tips of her fingers, static bolts could be seen slowly forming. She got into a low stance, readying herself for the assault of the Inuzuka who leapt into the air to initiate an aerial assault.

Too easy, Akari dodged the easily predictable strike and hit the left shoulder joint of the Inuzuka with her static finger, sending him back a couple steps.

"W-what!?" The boy stood confused, his entire left arm was numb and barely movable, he struggled to make a fist and finally managed to do so, he would not give up so easily.

The two opponents dashed at each other and clashed in fierce close-ranged fighting, the Inuzuka using his claws to cut through Akari's skin while the Raiu threatened to paralyze the slightly older boy.

Two, Three, Four pinpoint strikes from Akari sent the boy flying back again. His upper body grew considerably numb and the electricity surging through it hurt a lot as well.

He clenched his teeth, making his fangs stand out. He would not lose against a girl younger than him!

Resuming his savage barrage of punches and kicks, Akari thought he seemed desperate. She would put an end to it now. As soon as the green eyed Inuzuka exposed his chest again she went to town on him hitting all the nerves she could. She had studied the human anatomy enough to tell the important ones apart.

Sparks flew around as the light haired girl hit the Inuzuka again and again with her fingertips. She looked almost like a Hyuga… but still not quite.

A couple of moments later, the Inuzuka fell exhausted to the ground. He was too numb and hurt to move.

Yasu looked up to Mizuki and Iruka and they all nodded.

"Akari Raiu wins!" The small crowd of students cheered at the amazing display, though the girl couldn't care less. Kari simply made her way back to her seat (after doing the Seal of Reconciliation with the half-passed out Inuzuka) only to be surrounded by several girls who would most likely ask lots of questions such as _"How are you so strong!?"_

Yuuta sweatdropped, Akari Raiu is scary!

After a 5 minute break, Mizuki once again took out two small papers.

"Ito Taro!" The short boy nearly had a heart attack, his time had most likely came to leave this earthly plane they all call 'life'. Yuuta eyed him slightly, genuinely wishing his small friend the best of lucks.

"vs… Mirai Kei!" Yuuta burst out in a fit of savage laughing, drawing everyone's attention toward himself. This was definitely not going to be a pretty thing to see.

The two boys looked at each other, they couldn't be more different. Kei looked wild and dangerous. In contrast, Taro looked more like a "good guy".

They made the Seal of Confrontation and Yasu immediately allowed them to begin, clearly not wanting to prolong the inevitable.

"Go get him, Chibitaro!" Aki cheered from his sitting position, prompting other to cheer for him as well.

"Go, Taro!" Yuuta cheered as well, clasping his hands around his mouth to amplify the sound.

Taro sweatdropped, all the cheering made it awkward. He looked forward to Kei, he didn't seem fazed by it at all and simply got into a fighting stance.

"I'm sorry about that" Taro apologized, but was only met by a violent flying axe kick from Kei. On reflex, he rolled to the right and took out a couple of steps back.

"I don't really care about it" Kei coldly replied even after trying to get him by surprise. Taro took a deep breath, he needed to calm down. He already knew that Kei was a wild and straight-forward fighter. He simply needed to find a way to exploit that using his few unique skills.

Taro made a quick seal with a single hand "Finding Technique" A kunai instantly went to his hand. _"A tool-summoning Jutsu, huh? Not bad"_ Yasu sensei thought.

He had to use his smaller size to his advantage as well… He was not going to knock Kei out but he had to at least make it to the end of the fight!

Taro jumped into the air and threw the Kunai down at Kei, who dodged by jumped upward to face the shorter Taro. The short boy immediately summoned two more Kunai joined together by wire, throwing them at the sides of the long-haired male Student. Kei was suddenly bound to the ground, unable to go further up to fight Taro.

" _Where is he getting all that stuff from!?"_ Kei thought, the first Kunai he could understand, but two more Kunai plus that amount of wire couldn't possibly fit inside his belt. A large green-colored bag caught his attention as it lay next to a tree nearby. Taro had set it up there so he could summon his tools when he needed them!

Taro summoned a giant Shuriken nearly as big as his whole torso and threw it down to Kei. The lethal projectile cuts the air at great speeds, and would do the same to Kei if he tried to block it with his arm. The brown haired teen took out a Kunai and blocked the Shuriken with it, making it ricochet off the Kunai. Kei jumped out of the wire's hold and toward Taro, who now had more smaller shuriken on his hands. He throws them in a wide-arc, forcing Kei to jump up again. This time, he managed to get to the smaller boy.

Throwing heavy and savage punches and kicks, he made sure that a single hit would end it for the smaller Taro who used his small size to his advantage and dodged the strikes with relative ease. Finishing it up by rolling under Kei's legs, he turned around and fired another Kunai that was dodged again. This time, Kei went all out, he rushed with amazing speed toward Taro and landed a solid hit on the tiny boy's chest, nearly cracking his ribs upon impact.

Taro back stepped creating distance between him and Kei. That punch took all the air out of his lungs.

The short boy summons a small metal ball connected to a thin chain… this better work.

Kei rushed at Taro again, this time, the shorter man dodged below Kei once again, throwing the metal ball and chain around his leg. The ball and chain spun around his ankle a few times before tightening its grip. Taro pulled with all his might, making the taller boy lose his balance and fall. Then, he took a Kunai out of his pocket and buried it in the ground, tying the thin chain around it. If only he could use Lighting Release…

He was running out of weapons, this small delay to buy time was the last thing he could do. Kei struggled to get up. The chain was very tangled around his leg, taking it off would be risky in the midst of the fight.

He simply rushed in the direction of the chain and toward Taro, who back stepped and let the chain do its job as it pulled the taller student back. Kei was annoyed to say the least. Using all of his strength, he kicked with the bound leg. His amazing strength brought the chain AND the Kunai with it, as the kick landed hard on Taro's side.

The 5 minute time-limit ran out and Yasu stopped the fight there. It would go to decision, Taro did very well as he was prepared for the fight. But he also didn't manage to land a single clear hit on Kei… it was a hard and very tight choice, but the victory was given to Kei in a 2:1 margin, with Iruka being the only one to vote for Taro.

Disappointed, the small student went to his seat next to Yuuta who tried to cheer him up.

"You did great, Taro!" The pale-amber eyed boy gave him a thumbs up and a smile, though Taro simply looked back down. He wasn't strong enough yet…

"Amane Yuuta" Finally his time, the dark brown haired boy eagerly somersaulted out of his seating position and into his spot in the circle. The smile on his face was the brightest of smiles.

"vs… Yukimura Etsuko" Etsuko calmly got up and walked to her spot, she looked way too elegant when compared to Yuuta. It was going to be an interesting match.

* * *

Up above, watching the action from a window in his office, the old man known as Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled. He turned to his right and looked at the taller, short haired man.

"What do you think, Shu-san?" The man known as Shu Kurama simply shrugged, he didn't think much of Academy Students. He wore black ninja pants with a dark blue and white kimono top which is held up with an cyan blue sash, his eyes are Hazel in color and his face holds a rather uninterested expression.

"They are a pretty good generation, aren't they?" A red-haired, tall woman with a curvaceous build, she wore a revealing outfit consisting of loose fitting anbu-styled pants with a belt and black T-shirt where it just covers her chest and exposes her stomach and back (though they are covered in bandaging), and with the right sleeve missing. She wraps her entire torso and right arm from the shoulder to her hand in white bandages only exposing her fingers. She wears her forehead protector with a black band around her neck and an open black Jonin vest. Around her right wrist, she has a pitch black jar tied tightly.

"Yes they are Kyoko-san, they have already started being called 'The Golden Generation' by some teachers" The Third Hokage confirmed, smiling proudly at the boys and girls down below.

"Is that so?" Shu clearly wasn't very interested, it was his and Arashi Kyoko's first time mentoring Genin, and he wasn't exactly thrilled by it.

Behind him, another college casually threw his arm around his shoulder.

"Come on Shu, you'll love them!" With light brown hair and light hazel eyes, the bright man stood a couple of inches taller than Shu himself. He wore a more traditional Konoha-nin outfit, but with the forehead protector around his neck and a few minor alterations such as a tighter long-sleeve shirt.

"Cut it off, Kotoya" Kotoya Ichiyusai chuckled and did as told, Shu clearly wasn't feeling very happy today… or maybe he was, but he rarely showed it.

"Kyoko, Shu is being mean again" Kotoya said in a slightly girlish voice he acted out, wanting to make fun of the stern man's strict behavior.

Kyoko smiled "Maybe you shouldn't be so pushy in expressing your undying love for him" She sarcastically commented, earning her a laugh from the Third Hokage.

"W-wha- You too Kyoko!?" Kotoya knew she was only messing with him, but he still faked that he was feeling betrayed, the light brown haired man clearly didn't look like a Sensei at all.

"Now, now" The Hokage calmed them down "Let's just focus on this upcoming match shall we? It is ought to be amusing"

Kyoko looked down to see the bright boy and serious girl performing the Seal of Confrontation at each other, "Are they good?" She asked.

The Hokage nodded "That girl has the highest grades in the class. She is considered a 'genius girl' by all her teachers in the academy"

"And the boy?" Shu asked, finally feeling a bit interested…

The Hokage laughed "Well… he is quite something"

The two classmates stared at each other. They both knew it was not going to be an easy fight.

Yasu smirked, "Start!" He yelled, immediately stepping away, he didn't want to be in the middle of the shitstorm that was about to be unleashed.

Both Students immediately went through their hand seals.

"Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!" Yuuta swiftly blew out numerous modest-sized fire balls at the purple haired girl who had just finished her seals.

"Blood Release: Blood Weapon Jutsu" The entire small crowd watched in awe as blood came out of the girl's bandaged wrist, forming a whip-like structure on her hand. This was the frightening Kekkei Genkai from the Yukimura Clan!

Etsuko reacted to the 6 fireballs at the last moment and, using the flexibility of her whip, blocked them all in a single motion. She lost some of the blood on her whip from the impact, but it was still in good shape.

Yuuta stood slightly perturbed by the blood-formed whip, he knew a lot of things, but he definitely didn't see that one coming. He formed a cross with his fingers and proceeded to cast another technique, he needed a distraction to get past that whip.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu" A single clone came out of a white cloud of smoke, Yasu was surprised, it was a single clone but such a technique wasn't easy to perform even like that.

Yuuta and his clone dashed toward Etsuko who aimed her whip at the original, Yuuta skillfully jumped up into the air. Etsuko smirked. She had him where she wanted. She immediately forced her whip back up and into the defenseless boy, however, and much to her surprise, the clone jumped up and grabbed the original by the collar of his jacket, pulling Yuuta out of the way. Yuuta proceeded to grab his clone's arm while still in midair and threw it at Etsuko with all his might.

"Not bad… but not enough either!" The whip reacted quickly enough to wrap itself around the clone, tightening the grip more and more until a white cloud of smoke was formed. She couldn't see Yuuta now!

Using the moment to his advantage, Yuuta dashed forward with amazing speed, getting past the whip and into his preferred range. Up close and personal.

Etsuko expected Yuuta to attack as soon as he got to her so she prepared to block, however, Yuuta jumped over Etsuko, planning to kick her from above. The whip made its way back in time to block the attack, almost as if it had a mind of its own. But there was no stopping Yuuta now, using the strength of his leg against the whip to keep himself in midair, the boy simply twirled in midair and continued his aerial assault, punching and kicking in a very acrobatic manner. But the whip reacted to everything, shielding it's user from the fast barrage with equally fast reactions.

Yuuta landed from his assault, and in a single rotating motion he aimed to knock Etsuko down with a spinning low kick but the girl managed to back step to avoid it. Great, he had to deal with both the girl and her whip…

" _I'm losing blood every time he strikes… I need to change it into something shorter"_ The whip retracted back into a thin sword, the extra blood going back into Etsuko's body.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Another clone of Yuuta came into existence. He seemingly could only manage one at a time with his current level of technique. The clone's relevance was very short, as its only job this time was to throw Yuuta into the air and toward Etsuko.

 _It's risky, but…_ "Let's see how you deal with this!"

"Fire Release: Flame Leaf Whirlwind!" Yuuta twirled around in the air, preparing the aerial roundhouse kick with fire coming out of his leg. Etsuko blocked it as there was no time to evade, the blood evaporated upon contact with the strong flame extinguishing it, though the blade had lost its shape and the kick still connected against Etsuko, sending her flying a couple of meters back.

Yuuta landed, the blade had managed to cut on his right calf. He wouldn't be able to use it anymore to kick. But it paid off as he noticed the purple-haired girl struggling to get up. She wouldn't be using her blood release anymore, but he noticed her running through some other seals anyway.

"Water Clone Jutsu" Yuuta stood confused, there were no nearby puddles, unless…

From behind him, another Etsuko came out of nowhere. She had used the water on the river back at the training grounds!

He distanced himself from the two Etsukos, he was nearly out of chakra himself but he had enough for a last clone.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu" He struggled, but managed to mold enough chakra for it. He couldn't possibly cast anymore Ninjutsu after that, though.

The originals and copies charged at each other, Yuuta only had three limbs to work with and Etsuko was still stunned from the kick earlier. But still, the dark haired boy and its clone seemed to hold the advantage over the female duo as they both used the exact same attack to push the girl and her clone back.

"You are not bad at all" Etsuko admitted, she was tired. Fighting someone like the acrobatic Yuuta wasn't easy at all.

"Well, I do put in some work ya' know?" Yuuta dispelled the clone at his side. He was pretty sure he would pass the test and become a Genin this time.

Etsuko suddenly felt all the energy leaving her body. She looked behind her as she fell to the ground… another clone of Yuuta!?

" _When…? That's right… the clone he used to throw himself at me for his fire-kick… it never disappeared… it must have transformed into a rock or something"_ She smiled _"Not bad for a reckless airhead"_

Yuuta went down to his knees panting heavily, if there could be a negative number assigned to the percentage of chakra a person had left, he would have a negative number on his. Blood started pouring out of his nose. He would be having a headache for the following days. But he most likely secured his spot as a Genin now. He'd finally made his mother proud…

* * *

The 3 Jonin and the Hokage watched the outcome with amazed looks on their faces. All the fights had been nothing short of spectacular but that last one definitely was the icing on the cake.

"You like them now, Shu?" Kotoya asked his dark haired friend.

Shu smiled but quickly shook his head "Yeah, right"

"I guess we'll have our hands full no matter who we get, right?" Kyoko asked the Hokage who nodded happily.

"You certainly will"

* * *

 **That took a long time to write!**

 **So much fighting in a single chapter, if you are not satisfied with that then I just don't know how to please you. But let me calm you down in case your OC didn't come out on top. These were only spars, not serious battles. Plus, I really did do the matchups random (I made all the little papers and stuff). So if your OC lost to someone they might have won if they had gotten a different person to fight. It was all about matchups and luck!**

 **The Inuzuka kid was just an extra and an "easy fight" for the lucky OC who got it, in this case Akari Raiu. So don't worry about him too much.**

 **Now, the overview!**

* * *

 **Round 1:**

 **Akira Odonata vs Garasue Aki**

 **Winner: Akira Odonata (decision)**

 **Yasu Sensei's Opinion: The fight was evenly matched and could have gone either way, two tactical minds put to the test but only one could come out in the end.**

 **Result: Both Students pass the Test.**

 **Round 2:**

 **Kotaka Ko vs Torao Akihiko**

 **Winner: Draw**

 **Yasu Sensei's Opinion: with Torao not being able to use the full extent of his abilities and KO being more of a support fighter, the battle could have possibly ended with both of them exhausted on the ground with no real damage done. It was best to end it as a Draw.**

 **Result: Both Students pass the Test.**

 **Round 3:**

 **Akari Raiu vs Endou Inuzuka**

 **Winner: Akari Raiu (KO)**

 **Yasu Sensei's Opinion: Endou's desperation and bloodthirstiness made him an easy target for Akari, who immediately knew how to exploit his weaknesses. The young Raiu proved herself adept at the use of her clan's Hiden techniques.**

 **Result: Akari Raiu Passes the Test and Graduates with Honors / Endou Inuzuka sent back to Academy.**

 **Round 4:**

 **Ito Taro vs Mirai Kei**

 **Winner: Mirai Kei (decision)**

 **Yasu Sensei's Opinion: Although the matchup was seemingly weighted heavily against Taro, the young boy proved himself to be resourceful and well prepared to any and all situation, which is a very, very good thing in a young shinobi.**

 **Result: Both Students Pass the Test / Ito Taro Graduated with Honors.**

 **Round 5:**

 **Amane Yuuta vs Yukimura Etsuko**

 **Winner: Amane Yuuta (KO) / Later revised and declared a Draw as the young boy passed out shortly after.**

 **Yasu Sensei's Opinion: A Showdown between two of the top students in the class, the naturally genius Etsuko vs the naturally untalented yet hardworking Yuuta. Although Yuuta managed to pull off "the win" by using a risky tactic, it came at the cost of passing out from chakra exhaustion himself.**

 **Result: Both Students pass the Test.**

 **This chapter is already long enough, so I won't answer reviews this time.**


	5. Chapter 5

**I'll probably start mass-producing these while I have the time, this way I can update more regularly though the chapters will probably go back to being around 3-4k words unlike the 6k monstrosity that I threw around last time.**

 **Thanks to everyone who reviews, as mentioned in previous chapters, I really like reviews.**

 **Reviewing constantly will earn you extra cookies for your OC… and boy, extra cookies are damn good.**

 **And if you thought the Students were strong last chapter… just wait until you see their Jonin.**

 **So, quick question to make this A/N a bit more interesting, feel free to review your thoughts.**

 **Imaginary Fan: Yamada-sama, if you had to choose an opening from the anime series (both the original/first series and shippuden) to represent the 'opening' for this story, which would it be?**

 **Yamada-sama: Hmm… I would be torn between two of them. It would be either between the 9** **th** **Opening from the first series (YURA YURA) or the 4** **th** **Opening from the same series (Who the fluff doesn't love "GO!"/Fighting Dreamers?). Most of the other openings have this "sad" or "hurt" feeling to them (mainly in Shippuden) which doesn't quite fit the theme of the story… yet. That's why anime series change openings every once in a while *winks*.**

 ***Me and Neocolai would like to apologize to everyone regarding the mess we made in regards to his OC Torao, so far I've been calling him that and I am sure that everyone is already familiar to him as just that, "Torao". But we'll be referring to him as "Tatsu" from now on, which is a simplified form of his original name which was "Tamotsu". Hope you'll forgive me for that one guys! *bows*** _ **gomenasai!**_

* * *

Chapter 3: Can we really trust these people!?

Yuuta woke up feeling much better than last night, his headache had stopped and he didn't feel dizzy anymore. A good thing, he wouldn't want to pass out in front of everyone as he received his forehead protector. As he did every morning, he readied himself in front of the mirror wearing his usual attire. His beloved gray jacket had been a gift from Chigusa-neechan. He would continue to wear it until he grew it out, though the blue-haired woman had promised to buy him a similar one once he did. He tied his red band tight around his forehead and head full of dark brown hair and smirked as he knew it wouldn't be empty for longer now.

He smiled at the picture of his mother but didn't take long before leaving the room and dashing his way downstairs and to the kitchen table, where he was surprised to find all his little housemates and Chigusa-neechan already up and waiting for him. Two young boys who were twins and no older than 8 and a cute little girl of the same age held up a large sign of _'congratulations'_ and Chigusa held a plate with several of his favorite breakfast snacks, Chigusa's special custom-made Onigiri.

" _Congratulations Yuu-chan!"_ The four people he treasured the most all shouted loudly, nearly making the young boy's ears blow. The short brown haired little girl wearing a cute pink dress went behind him and started pushing him toward his chair with whatever strength she had on her little body, Yuuta simply let himself be dragged along once the twin boys came and started pulling him from his arms. He took his seat and Chigusa laid his plate in front of him, he was too confused to eat right now though.

"Why all the noise so early in the morning!?" Yuuta protested, looking around for any other unexpected surprise.

One of the twins grinned "Well, you finally passed your test and became a Genin!" The other twin soon followed up.

"You are officially Super-Cool!" This made Yuuta blush a bit, sure, it was cool but he didn't think it was THAT much of a big deal.

"It isn't even official yet ya' know?" Chigusa shook her head at Yuuta's statement.

"Don't worry about the details and just eat!" She reprimanded, causing Yuuta to sigh and give up. He quickly wolfed down his meal and excused himself, not before being given a very loud 'goodbye' from his housemates.

Once outside, Yuuta immediately sped up his pace. If they were already up it meant that he overslept at least half an hour, he was definitely worn down from yesterday's test. The cut in his leg was nearly perfectly healed though. Chigusa had the recipe of a very special ointment that could heal most open cuts in a single night.

He was already at the academy's gates in a matter of minutes so he proceeded to his classroom with no delays at all. As he expected, most people were already inside, but Iruka sensei hadn't arrived yet. The other 20 students who managed to pass had uncomfortable looks on their faces, just a day before they were fighting each other for the right to become a Genin. Yuuta didn't mind it and simply made his way to his sit right next to Aki, who greeted him with a smile.

"Yo! Took you long enough, huh?" Aki joked. He and Yuuta were good enough friends to joke like that.

Yuuta sighed "My house is a noisy mess, that's the problem ya' know?" he took a deep breath in "They are good people though"

Aki chuckled "I guess they are" The two student's attention was drawn to the opening door of the classroom, Iruka came inside, carrying a large wooden case. The soon to be Genin were all focused on the dark case, they all knew what was inside.

Iruka laid the long case on a small table, opening it and revealing its contents. Konoha-nin Forehead Protectors.

"Well, if you are here it's because you passed… Please make a line in front of the case!" The tan skinned sensei ordered, all the students eagerly jumped out of their seats (with a few, calmer exceptions) and made their way to the case, where Iruka gave everyone their own forehead protector. Bright smiles filled the room, no matter which student it was, they were all proud of themselves and of finally getting their shiny new protectors that they'd most likely be carrying with themselves for a long, long time.

Once the students were all back to their seats Iruka cleared his throat, he took a small scroll from one of his vest's pockets and opened it.

"Now comes a very important thing: You will now be formed in teams of 3 and assigned to your Jonin sensei" He looked around to make sure everyone paid attention "You already know about this, but you will be together with your team for a long time, so make sure you work together and help each other grow, understood?" The students were nervous now, most of them would very much like to be teamed up with their friends… but they also knew that it was very unlikely. Whoever made the teams usually seemed to have devilish intentions in mind.

Yuuta was indeed preoccupied, he didn't want to be stuck with an uncooperative teammate like Kei or Akari, but he also didn't want a team full of slackers or weaklings.

"Team One: Sakurai Takao, Saionji Sayaka and Inari…" He wasn't part of team one then. Surely his name couldn't be called early, right?

"Team Two: Amane Yuuta…" Crap, his heart almost blew out of his chest! "Ito Taro…" Well… it could be way worse than that, Taro did do very well in his match against Kei, he even got a special 'recognition' and 'congratulations' scroll hand-written by the Third Hokage… but surely the old man didn't watch the matches, right? Such a busy man wouldn't have the time. "… and Akira Odonata!" Yuuta eyed the black haired girl who was currently looking at him from behind, they weren't the closest of friends but definitely weren't on bad terms either, so it was Taro, Akira and him huh? An interesting combination of a major strategist, a great supporter and a pretty decent hand-to-hand fighter, he wasn't sure how it would work out but there were definitely worse people to be paired with him.

Kei was bored and uninterested. As long as he didn't get any pushovers to hold him back he was satisfied. He heard a couple of teams of uninteresting people go by until he finally heard his name being called.

"Team Four: Mirai Kei, Akari Raiu and Kotaka Ko!" There were two girls on his team, huh? It didn't bother him since Akari was pretty strong despite him disliking her attitude, but he wasn't really sure about Ko, she didn't prove herself enough for him during her spar and he didn't like her nearly excessive self-confidence either… Oh Lord.

Aki felt a bit disappointed, he would have loved being on a team with Yuuta or Taro who were among his best friends on the class. Guess it makes sense to separate friends across the teams. You don't want to be too attached to someone if the worse happens otherwise it could weight you down emotionally. He sighed nonetheless, just who would he end up with?

"Team Six: Garasue Aki…" Well, all or nothing then, the green haired boy crossed his fingers "…Yukimura Etsuko and Torao Tatsu!" He let out a big sigh of relief, Yukimura was pretty darn good and she was a bit cute too, which was a plus on his book. As far as Tatsu goes, he thinks he is alright, but has never really held a long conversation with him.

After finishing up with the remaining teams, Iruka instructed everyone to go meet their teammates and wait for their sensei to come pick them up. Some lucky people who managed to be in a team with their friends immediately hugged each other in joy, for most however, it would be a bit awkward.

Aki walked over to Etsuko who waved her hand at him with a small smile on her face, the boy known as Torao Tatsu didn't seem too enthusiastic though.

"Yo! Looks like we'll be together for a while then" Aki happily said, a bright grin on his face.

Etsuko laughed nervously "It sure seems like it… let's get along, okay?"

Aki's grin grew wider "Sure!"

"Yeah, sure" Tatsu was a bit half-hearted with his approach, though Etsuko quickly figured that he probably took a long time to open up to others. The trio continued chatting, though the conversation was mostly between Aki and Etsuko.

Meanwhile, Yuuta and Taro were already over at Akira's desk as the dark haired girl didn't seem to bother getting up.

"Well… let's get along?" Yuuta wasn't shy, he just didn't know if it was good to immediately open up to his new teammates.

Akira eyed the two boys as analytical as ever, she already knew they weren't bad people so that helped her ease her worries a bit. Taro was a very normal kid (albeit abnormally short) and Yuuta always kept a bright attitude, it would be relatively easy to get along with them.

"Yeah, let's work hard together" Akira calmly said, and the rare sight of a small smile forming on her face followed soon after that.

"I'll try my hardest!" Taro said quite motivated, he wanted to prove himself to others, and more importantly, to himself.

Yuuta smiled. At least he got a pair of people who would work as hard as himself.

On another corner of the room, things weren't going so well. Although Kari and Kei agreed to sit next to each other, they were completely ignoring the other one. Ko stood in front of them, the pink haired girl was starting to get worried.

"Come on guys, there is no need to be angry!" She reassured them, only earning her a pretty harsh glare from Akari.

"I don't have any problems, he's the one who suddenly gets all hard headed and stuff" The light haired girl commented, arms crossed across her chest.

Kei gritted his teeth "I wouldn't be 'all hard headed' if you weren't such a-"

"Guys! Guys! Let's calm down~" Ko intervened just at the right moment, the classroom was in danger of blowing up, why couldn't their sensei hurry up!?

The door to the classroom suddenly opened, revealing a fit man with slightly tanned skin and black hair. Wearing a blue and white kimono top, the man was handsome and elegant as he gave off an air of nobility along with a very stern and strict look.

"Team six, meet me at the rooftop" The man calmly said, closing the door behind him.

Aki smiled to his teammates "That's us!" The green haired boy ran out the door, closely followed by Etsuko and Tatsu who pleaded for him to slow down a bit.

"Well, there go the firsts" Ko muttered, she really hoped their sensei would hurry up.

Minutes passed and a couple of other teams were picked up by their sensei, as the room grew thinner and thinner of people, it was only a matter of time until some of them started distracting themselves with other stuff such as waiting games and such things.

The door opened again, this time louder than ever before, revealing a very tall and bright-looking man with lighter brown hair and Hazel eyes.

"Hello! Team Four, are you there?" He poked his head into the classroom and looked around, he recognized Yuuta standing in a corner next to a couple other Genin and got excited… did he manage to get him!?

"Sup" He looked down to see a stern looking boy with longer brown hair, followed by two girls, one visibly much more happy than the other one. _"Oh dear me…"_ he thought, it was easy to tell that he would be in charge of a handful…

"Well, let's just go to another classroom, shall we?" The cheerful-looking Jonin went back outside followed by his new students. There were only two teams left inside the room now.

Soon after, the students inside could hear the muffled sound of the man who just left talking with a woman who seemed to be in a rush. As they were behind the door, they couldn't hear anything properly and just wondered who that person could be. Soon after, the door opened, revealing a beautiful woman with long red hair.

"Team Two?" She asked

Yuuta smiled, their sensei had finally arrived "Here!" He raised his hand and walked over to their new mentor, followed by his two teammates.

"Sorry, I'm not late, am I?" She casually looked over to the clock… she missed the appointed time by nearly half an hour.

"Just a bit ya' know" Yuuta noticed her immediately analyzing them after he answered, reminding him of his own teammate Akira. It seemed like this woman was also an analyzer.

She nodded "Let's go outside shall we? It can get tiring to be inside all the time" She led them out the door. Akira looked back at the remaining trio of Genin who were already looking desperate. Further down the hallways, they came across a gray-haired man who their sensei greeted. The gray-haired man who wore his forehead protector over his left eye merely acknowledged her without distracting himself from his book and walked past the, looking at Akira with his single dark eye as he went by. The Odonata froze in place for a second… the look in that man's eye… he had seen death and suffering, a lot of it.

Just who was that lazy-looking man?

* * *

Shu looked over the three Genin in front of him sitting on a bench, he recognized Etsuko from yesterday's last match and knew about the Garasue Clan but Torao Tatsu was an unknown to him. They looked talented enough but as with most things, they would need a lot of work.

Shu cleared his throat, where to begin?

"Hello Team Six, my name is Kurama Shu and from now on I'll be your sensei" He smiled "It's a pleasure to meet you" Easier than he thought it would be.

"You probably already know each other a bit but I'd like to hear a little about you" He motioned to Tatsu with his head, startling the crimson haired boy a bit.

"Uhm…" He thought for a few seconds about what to say "My name is Torao Tatsu. I'm 11 and I like Mochi and Fish –as pets-" Shu nodded and looked over at Aki who already knew what to say.

"Yo, I'm Garasue Aki and I'm 12! I like Onigiri and Tea!" He smiled, causing Shu to smile a bit as well, was food all boys could think about these days?

He then looked over at the purple haired girl who nodded upon meeting his sight.

"My name is Yukimura Etsuko, I'm 12 and I really like training and learning new things" She calmly stated, she would really need those likes starting tomorrow…

Shu sighed "That's all for today, I want you to take the rest of the day off and rest well. Tomorrow I want you to meet me at Training Ground #2 before 8 AM" With that, the man bowed slightly and disappeared in a small cloud of white smoke.

"BEFORE 8 AM!?" Aki cursed in despair…

They definitely got the strict sensei…

* * *

Inside one of the academy's classrooms, Kotoya looked over to the three students who quietly sat in front of him as he leaned against the podium. The tall Shinobi noticed they probably wouldn't 'break the ice' by themselves and decided that it was better if he started smoothing things over.

"Once again hello, my name is Kotoya Ichiyusai and I'll be Team Four's sensei from now on, let's all get along together!" He cheerfully said, though he only caught the attention of one of the girls who immediately spoke up.

"Nice to meet you Kotoya-sensei, my name is Kotaka Ko!" He smiled. At least he got a cheerful one… unlike the other two.

Akari merely analyzed her sensei closely, was he really a Sensei at all? He seemed too aloof and laid back to be respected. Kotoya caught this glare and immediately stood in front of her.

"And what would be your name, little miss?" The light haired girl sighed.

"Akari…" She muttered in a barely audible volume.

Kotoya raised an eyebrow "Akari…" He repeated after her, wanting to hear her surname.

She scoffed "Akari Raiu" Kotoya's eyes widened. He knew about the Raiu clan, in fact, the Ichiyusai Clan and the Raiu Clan shared its roots from the same origin, both clans with high affinity to Lighting Jutsu, arguably among the strongest clans in its use in the whole world. He smirked, if she grew strong enough there was a possibility that she could be able to use the Ichiyusai Clan's techniques as well.

"Tsch" He heard the only boy on his team mutter something.

Kotoya cleared his throat "And what is your name, young man?" Trying to avoid an argument, Kei answered with no hesitation.

"Mirai Kei" He said, only half-interested. There was nearly no chemistry in this team, only two people who disliked each other and another one who barely seemed to fit… He hated to admit it since it wasn't really his style, but he would need to work a lot on teamwork…

"Well, for the time being I want you to prepare yourselves. We'll be meeting on top of the Hokage Monument tomorrow around 10 a.m. How does that sound?" His three students nodded and he gave them permission to leave.

"Now to prepare a good test for these kids…" Kotoya opened the window and went out through there. He had his fair share of 'homework' to do.

* * *

Kyoko led his 3 students to the famous tree with a swing hanging from its branch. It was sunny outside so the shade provided by the tree was a refuge from the rays of sunlight that could get pretty hot around this time of the year.

Kyoko took the swing for herself but merely sat on it maintaining a serious aura. She motioned for her new –and first- students to sit on the shade-covered ground, Akira thought it was a bit improper but did so nonetheless. On the other side, the boys didn't mind it at all.

Being great at analyzing and evaluating people, she had most of their personality already pinned out. But she would still like to learn more things about them.

"Well, to start off…" She smiled "My name is Arashi Kyoko and I will be your sensei for as long as you need me" Taro found it weird, but he could catch a bit of a mother-like aura coming from her.

"I've been a Shinobi for a long time now, done a lot of different stuff. That doesn't matter now. My current goal is to help you guys out" Yuuta smirked, she seemed passionate enough. Kyoko noticed this and thought of the cheerful boy as a good place to start.

"So, tell me about yourself" Kyoko smiled at Yuuta. Akira continued her evaluation of her new sensei. She seemed passionate and devoted to her work. She also had this air of mother-like strictness to her though she was also quite direct with the way she talked.

Yuuta cleared his throat "I'm Amane Yuuta and my goal is to make my mother proud!" Kyoko chuckled. A seemingly simplistic goal but she could tell that there was more to it than simply a child wanting to impress her mom, she could tell by the way he said it.

"…though I have a few other goals on the side" Yuuta finished, laughing nervously. Kyoko nodded and moved to the dark haired girl in the middle.

"What about you?" She pointed to Akira who nodded in acknowledgement.

"My name is Odonata Akira, and my current goal… well, that is pretty much clan-related" She calmly said. Kyoko nodded, it was good that she was calm and grounded as long as it didn't get in the way of her teamwork, but she seemed alright. Finally, she turned to Taro who sat to the left.

"And you, little boy?"

"Well… I'm Ito Taro and my goal is to prove that I can become strong and useful!" Kyoko smiled, she watched a part of his fight. His skill set was very unique, but could indeed be powerful if he made it work right.

Kyoko looked at her to her students, she was satisfied. They were a good trio for her first attempt at mentoring Genin.

"Well, that's it for today. Tomorrow we have something important to do, so meet me at Training Ground #1 at around 9 in the morning" She excused herself as she had 'someone to go pick up' and left the trio alone.

Yuuta looked at his teammates "Let's make sure we don't let Sensei down"

Taro nodded "She seems nice enough"

Akira shrugged "She hasn't trained us yet, for all we know she could be a strict teacher" though she didn't really feel like one…

The trio chatted a while longer before bidding each other goodbye, tomorrow was going to be an important day… just as important as the day before.

* * *

 **Managed to finish this one in a single day!**

 **Well, do make sure to review your thoughts and leave your feedback. Don't hesitate to PM me if you have any questions! I love PM's~**

 **The sensei's bits might have been a little short, but they'll get the spot light next chapter... believe it! (not in a _dattebayo_ way, though) **


	6. Chapter 6

**Yo! Yamada-chama back here with another chapter. Let's not talk much and get right into it!**

 **You may have noticed already, but my OC and Main Character Yuuta has a verbal tic like some of the characters from the series, usually ending his phrases with "Ya' know". If this was in Japanese, I could loosely translate it to** _ **"Yo!"**_ **but it's not necessarily that sound and I doubt it would translate literally.**

 **DON'T FORGET TO LEAVE A REVIEW! FEED THE BEAST!**

* * *

Chapter 4: Another Test!?

Aki jumped over the fence and into Training Ground #2, the green haired boy was pretty sure that he had made it in time. It was very early in the morning and a very thin mist filled the air on the woods. It was thin enough not to be scary, but fog was fog nonetheless.

He walked a couple of minutes and found his two teammates waiting for him. They looked just as sleepy and tired as him. Guess he wasn't the only one who had trouble sleeping last night…

"What's up~" Aki saluted with a smile. Though the sleepiness held back his usual cheerfulness, their sensei might have been a bit cruel with that one.

Etsuko waved her hand "Sensei hasn't arrived yet but he shouldn't get long" The purple haired girl answered.

Tatsu simply nodded at Aki as a greeting and the green haired boy returned the nod. They looked around the training grounds, it was a large, clear area surrounded by a small forest and with several useful things for Shinobi to use for training such as dummies, wooden posts and other targets. The thin mist accompanied with the morning breeze made the area a bit chilly but they knew it would probably become a sunny day as any other as the day went on. The breeze blew through the tree's branches, carrying some leaves with it. It was a really pacific scene.

The _puff_ of a small cloud of smoke drew the attention to their left side. They turned around to see their Sensei, Shu Kurama. The dark haired male stood atop a wide wooden platform with his arms crossed and his eyes fixated on the Genin, he jumped down from the wooden structure and landed in front of the 3 young kids, they knew something serious was about to happen.

"Good thing that you arrived early" The man began, but quickly changed the subject, "I called you out here for a reason…"

He cleared his throat "A small test, if you will"

Aki's eyes widened a bit "Another test? We thought we were done!"

Shu-sensei shook his head "You may have graduated by Academy Standards… But you still have to graduate by mine"

It was true, Etsuko had read about this somewhere. A Jonin can send his Genin back to the Academy if he thinks they are not ready to be Shinobi yet, heck, he could even make them unable to reapply to the program if he wanted to. Their future depended once again, on a little test.

"What will you have us do?" Tatsu raised an eyebrow, he was certainly curious as to what his Sensei had in mind.

"It is actually quite simple" The man smirked "You have to lay a punch on me" They immediately knew it wouldn't be easy, but it seemed simple enough.

"There are too things to note, though" He raised his index finger "One, the hit must land on my face, you are welcome to try and hit me anywhere else but it won't count. Also, even if you just merely graze my face or my head, you win" He then raised his middle finger next to his index one, indicating the next number "And two, to give you a bit of an advantage, I'll keep my arms inside my vestments" As he said that, the Jonin proceeded to tuck his arms inside his sleeves and into the body part of his white and blue battle-style kimono, crossing them inside.

"Oh, and I'd like you to use hand-to-hand combat mainly if you can" He added.

"Is that all?" Tatsu asked, getting ready with his two teammates. Shu nodded, getting ready himself.

"You can begin now" Suddenly, they felt the pressure increasing. What was this heavy feeling!?

Aki rushed toward his Sensei in an attempt to catch him by surprise, raising his fist toward his face. The Jonin simply blocked the strike with his knee and proceeded to do a downward sweeping kick with his other leg, sending Aki to the ground. He shook his head. They wouldn't get him with something as obvious as that.

Tatsu followed after that, aiming several fast punches directly at his Sensei's face. The relaxed man simply dodged them all as they came and 'pushed' Tatsu back with his foot, sending him straight to the ground. It was a 'push' since an unrestrained 'kick' would have most likely blown up the young boy's ribcage.

Etsuko watched his teammate's attempts from a distance. Numerous times they got back up only to be sent back down. They had underestimated their Sensei, there was an abysmal gap between the three of them and the black haired Jonin. She continued to watch as their sensei seemed to toy around with the two boys, his face's expression growing more and more inpatient. There was definitely a deeper way to go about this than just rush at his head, but what was the trick?

Using her Blood Release, she produced a small ball of blood on the palm of her hand. She aimed it at the man's face and fired it. The blood projectile was faster than any other projectile she knew, but the man still managed to dodge it at the last moment.

Tatsu panted, he was getting tired. No matter what he tried their Sensei still managed to dodge at the last second… Then it hit him, they were being too obvious! If they just kept trying to go for his face he would know exactly when and where to dodge. He looked back at Etsuko, the girl nodded in acknowledgement. It seemed as if she also figured it out after she threw that last projectile.

"Guys, come back here!" The purple haired girl called, the boys back stepped all the way to where she was. They still were on guard against their sensei, but also listened closely to what she had to say.

Shu smirked. Perhaps they already figured it out. However, figuring out the trick and deciphering the actual meaning to the test were two different things.

Aki suddenly rushed at Shu, followed by both of his teammates. They'd be coming at him all at the same time now. This time though, they didn't just aim for the head and went for body blows instead. Aki aimed a kick at his torso which was easily dodged by the black haired Jonin who simply took a step back. Etsuko followed after that, using Aki's back to jump and plunge at him from above aiming for the man's shoulder. Finally, Tatsu came up from the side aiming for the male's face, trying to catch him by surprise. Shu smirked, not bad.

But not enough…

Shu ducked and caused Etsuko and Tatsu to hit each other, he then kicked the two Genin toward their teammate causing them to fall in an awkward pile of defeated students.

Tatsu cursed, how where they even supposed to land the hit!? Their Sensei was simply on another league when it came to speed and agility, he didn't even need his arms to completely avoid all of their attacks. So this was the power of a Jonin…

Etsuko sighed, it wasn't. Shu-sensei wasn't even going serious at them. She had already calculated all the possible things they could try with their current level of skill. There was literally no chance that they could land a fist on their Sensei.

Shu looked at the disheartened faces of his Genin, maybe they were ready.

"Do you give up?" The Jonin's words were cold and harsh. The three Genin hesitated, but they had already accepted the fact.

"…Yeah" Etsuko sighed out, a bit of sorrow in her voice. After all that work, they'd be sent back at the academy,

"Why?" Shu asked, seriousness still in the stern male's voice.

Tatsu cursed under his breath "Because it's impossible"

"And why is it impossible?" Shu continued. The Genin were confused, if they had failed he should just say so already.

"Because we are weak, okay!?" Aki said reluctantly, it was a hard truth.

"Good" Shu said, a small smile forming on his face, "You pass".

The Genin's eyes widened, "W-Why?"

"To become strong you must first accept your own weakness" Shu started, harshness slowly leaving his voice, "Saying stuff like 'if you believe in it, it is possible' or 'nothing is impossible' will never get you anyway" It was a cold-blooded philosophy, but the Genin could somewhat understand it.

"So we must instead work and train hard to make the impossible… Well, possible" Shu already knew what message he wanted to give to the Genin. But as a first-time teacher he struggled to put it into words, he hoped the Genin would understand. He didn't want them to feel all-mighty and powerful just because they graduated the academy, he wanted to show them that the Shinobi life was a long road and becoming a Genin was just one of the first few steps.

"Do you understand?" He asked.

The Genin smiled "Yeah!"

Shu took a deep breath "Good" He looked at the training grounds… ample space, uneven terrain, obstacles…

"Now give me 100 laps around the grounds" He calmly said, as if the feat was nothing out of the ordinary.

"W-what!?" The Genin stood perplexed. They had just started thinking that their sensei was super-cool, now it turned out he was also a psycho.

Shu smirked "It's a joke" The three Genin let out a sigh of relief.

"99 should be enough for your first day"

* * *

( _meanwhile)_

Yuuta sighed, perhaps he overdid it. He stood alone at Training Grounds #1, the early morning mist still around. He was so excited that he woke up extra early in the morning to get here first, though he probably got here almost an hour earlier. He smirked at the sight of his forehead protector already on his crimson headband. He felt trice as cool as his housemates told him he was. He thought about wearing it someplace other than on his forehead but eventually decided to leave it there simply because he was already used to wearing a headband. _Do you get a replacement if you break it?_ He wondered.

He sat down and made a ram hand seal, closing his eyes as he took a deep breath in. His chakra was completely replenished. In fact, he felt like the over-exerting experience had made his reserves a little bigger. Chakra can become more powerful if you train your body and mind hard enough, though some other factors like genetics are still a limitation.

"How strange to see a young boy meditating like that~" He heard a woman's voice from behind, it was Kyoko-sensei's though Yuuta felt it sounded oddly close to his ear. He opened his eyes and turned his head around, being met by the smiling face of the red haired woman crouching next to him and mere inches away from his own face. It took the amber eyed boy a few seconds to realize this and once he did, the young boy let out a nervous scream and he tumbled down away from the woman.

"You scared me ya' know!?" Yuuta laid on the ground, a slightly scared look on his face. Kyoko laughed a bit at his reaction but Yuuta didn't find it funny at all, he literally couldn't sense or hear her at all.

"Sorry, sorry. Still, you are pretty early aren't you?" The red haired woman asked, standing up from her crouching position.

Yuuta starting standing up as well "Well, better to be early than to be late" He stood up completely, but still fell several inches short from his sensei. It somehow bugged him to be shorter than a woman, 12 years old or not. He didn't have his father around for reference so he also had no clue as to how tall he would become.

"True. And it seems your teammates think that as well" She turned to the left and towards the ground's entrance. Yuuta did as well and noticed his two teammates coming inside. So she could not only avoid being sensed but also sense other people across the grounds… Not bad, Yuuta expected no less from a Jonin and his Sensei at that.

Taro sped up his pace as he noticed the two already there, shortly followed by Akira "Are we late?" He asked, he had made sure he got up early enough so it was a bit weird to see them already here.

Kyoko shook her head "Not at all"

Taro sighed in relief, he was really glad he didn't mess up. Akira looked around but didn't find anything out of the ordinary, if she had heard right then their Sensei would put them to the test today.

Kyoko cleared her throat, her expression changing into a slightly more serious one.

"I am supposed to have you undergo a test today. I honestly don't think you guys need it but since I have to fill in the paperwork and all that stuff… It'll be easy, I promise" The Genin nodded. Kyoko started going through a lengthy set of hand seals, once she finished she crouched down and placed her hand on the floor.

"Summoning Jutsu!" She slammed her hand on the ground and a seal was placed, the area was covered in a white could of smoke that covered the entirety of Kyoko's body and then some more though the Genin stood outside of it. As the cloud dissipated, they could start to make out a draconic-like being from inside. It wasn't very big as its body was roughly human sized although the tail extended several feet behind it. It had a dark gray color with black markings along its skin. Small fin-like spikes adorned its wingless back and extended all the way to his head as a crest and to the pointy end of its tail. It had glowing yellow eyes and a pretty young-looking gecko/lizard face.

"W-Wha-!?" Taro felt frightened by the scary lizard-like creature in front of them next to their sensei, stumbling back a couple of steps. Akira stepped back a bit as well, although her face was filled more with cautiousness rather than fear. On the other hand, Yuuta was absolutely thrilled.

"Amazing!" The brown haired boy's usually pale and dull eyes shined bright like stars at the sight of the draconian creature.

Kyoko smirked "Isn't he?" She petted the roughly 3 ft. tall creature on the head, and it made a docile slithering sound as she did. Resembling what a cat would do when you pet its head.

"His name is Gobi, he is pretty young so treat him with care" Kyoko introduced the creature "He is what you would call a Wingless Fire Drake, and he'll be helping us out in today's test"

The two Genin in the back gulped, just what would their test be!?

"It's actually quite simple, you basically have to run away from him…" This time even Yuuta felt scared, so she would actually throw the beast at them. However, she shook her head at the Genin's reaction.

"Don't worry, it won't be anything dangerous… Show them Gobi" The dark lizard turned to one of the dummies in the distance, it readied its' stance and after a couple of seconds the Genin could see some sort of round object coming in a bulge up the creature's throat. The creature spat a light brown ball out of its mouth which was hurled at a great speed that made it lose its form and shape into a rather formless semi-fluid form that expanded at trapped the dummy within itself… it was apparently some kind of hot rubber-like material.

"Won't killed you… probably" The creature muttered in a slithering tone as its long serpent-like forked tongue wicked off the most likely foul tasting material.

"What the heck!?" The two male Genin yelled out in unison, it could also talk now?! It was just too much for them. Akira merely felt a chill running down her spine, way too creepy for her.

"If he catches you it's game over unless your teammates come and get you out. Also, you have to survive for 5 minutes" Kyoko and Gobi nodded at each other. "Start!" The woman declared, and the 3 Genin immediately retreated to the safety of the tree branches.

"They be troublesome, won't them?" Gobi slowly slithered out. It hasn't mastered the human language yet.

Kyoko smiled "They sure will" The lizard-like being rolled its snake-like eyes and made its way to the lush forest, unlike the vast majority of its fire-spewing brothers fire is not Gobi's specialty. You could consider his gum/rubber spewing ability a "Kekkei Genkai" among its race, though he could learn to spew fire later on its life as the lizard was merely 5 years old.

The three Genin concealed their presence as best as they could, they decided to spread out since it would be beyond unfortunate to get caught at the same time by the same gum shot. They eyed the creature carefully and noticed a smirk on its face, had it spotted someone.

" _Useless, me can see human's heat"_ Gobi thought as it rapidly fired a liquid rubber ball toward Yuuta's location. Caught by surprise by the much smaller rubber ball, Yuuta was hit on his left forearm as he barely managed to block it from reaching his face. The creature had accuracy that was for sure.

"It… BURNS!" Yuuta slammed his forearm against the trunk of the tree, shattering the rubber that quickly solidified because of the cold morning. He turned to see a bigger ball coming at him now, had the damn lizard used the smaller one as a distraction!?

Before it made contact though, Yuuta was safely pulled out of the way by Akira. They watched as the large rubber ball hit the branch Yuuta was standing on, ripping it away from the tree. Sure, it won't kill them but it will break their bones.

"Thanks" Yuuta muttered as the duo landed on another branch. Akira nodded, giving a signal to the still concealed Taro. The short boy landed next to them, summoning a pair of large Shuriken from his backpack and handing them to the pair.

"Those are connected with a sharp wire, it should slice through the rubber" Taro calmly said, summoning a Kunai for himself as well, "And this one has a paralyzing poison, I don't know if it works on Reptiles though…" The trio was startled by another large rubber ball coming their way, "Now!" Yuuta ordered, Akari nodded and they threw the shuriken at the same time. Like Taro had predicted, it sliced the still liquid rubber and caused the two halves to miss them.

The trio spread out again, Taro aimed the Kunai at the lizard who had now adhered itself to the trunk of a tree and shot it at the creature. However, Gobi skillfully caught the Kunai with its tongue and threw it aside. _"Crap"_ Taro thought, he was airborne and an easy target. The dark lizard aimed and fired away, Taro closed his eyes to prepare for the nose-shattering impact.

However, Yuuta jumped out of a brush and pushed the shorter boy away from the ball and towards the branch where Akira was standing. "W-Why!?" Without Yuuta they'd probably have no chance against the Lizard!

The large rubber ball hit the dark haired boy, enveloping it around him and sticking the now constricted Yuuta to the trunk of a tree.

" _Human… is weird species"_ Gobi pondered, Drakes like himself would never even consider risking themselves for others. But time and time again he heard tales of humans sacrificing themselves for a so-called greater cause. It was the first time it saw it with its own eyes.

Kyoko watched from a distance and smiled at the scene, she had summoned Gobi because it was also a test for the young lizard. Its brothers often bullied Gobi for its inability to spew flames naturally, so Gobi asked Kyoko to allow it to prove itself to its family. How could she deny such a request?

" _Time to finish"_ Gobi leapt into the air toward the two remaining Genin, preparing a last ultra-large rubber ball to catch them at the same time. It tried to bring the ball up from its tongue… but it couldn't!

" _Why!?"_ It desperately looked for an answer. The poisoned Kunai! The paralyzing poison had dripped into its mouth when he caught it with its tongue. It went down to its throat and paralyzed part of it! Even his tongue was useless now…

Taro grinned, they had a chance now! If Akira could trap the Lizard in a Genjutsu it was their victory, but they needed to weaken the creature before doing so. His grin disappeared, could he do it!?

"I'm still here ya' know!?" Yuuta yelled from above the tree, dropping himself toward the defenseless lizard. Taro looked at the rubber ball where Yuuta had been trapped until just a moment… its contents had disappeared… had it been a clone all along!?

" _Human… interesting species"_ Yuuta punched the Lizard hard on the face, sending it down. However, the amber eyed boy grabbed its tail and pulled it back up. Landing a straight downwards kick on its chin that sent it back down. Akira landed next to it, running through her hand seals…

"Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique" The black haired young girl looked straight into the beast's eyes. It was shaken enough from Yuuta's assault that the Genjutsu's effect as immediate… The creature's eyes' orbits became erratic, eventually shutting its eyelids. The Drake fell unconscious to the ground… whatever it was seeing inside the illusion, it wasn't pretty.

Kyoko arrived soon afterwards, looking at the fallen Drake with sad eyes. She felt a bit sorry for its failure… but her sad expression soon turned into a bright smile. She was even happier with her students' success. They didn't only survive, they defeated it. Gobi disappeared in another cloud of white smoke, going back to wherever it came from. The three Genin watched the scene, this probably wasn't the last time they'd hear from the Lizard.

"Well, you actually did it" Kyoko's smile grew wider "I'm impressed"

Yuuta smirked "What comes next?" His question made Kyoko ponder about some things. They weren't bad at all, but she wasn't sure they were ready to start going on missions.

"I want you all here tomorrow at the same time, we'll start actual training then"

The three Genin felt proud of themselves. They made their sensei proud and passed the test. They were real Genin now.

"Now, if you'll excuse me. You can train by yourselves if you want to, I have to go pick someone up!" She smiled and prepared to leave, she had mentioned picking someone up yesterday as well.

"Who are you picking up?" Akira asked, curious to learn more about it.

Kyoko turned back and smiled "My son"

"WHAAAAAAAAAT!?"

* * *

Kei was just finishing the climb to the top of the Hokage monument. It was a hassle to be honest. He was pretty sure he was already late though, he had gotten caught up with some things. As he finished the climb, he could already see his sensei and two teammates waiting for him. Only Ko and his Sensei waved their hands at him while Akari simply rolled her eyes, what was her damn problem!?

"We are all here now!" Ko happily said while turning back to her sensei. The male nodded.

"Indeed, we can get going with today's activity then"

"What will you have us do?" Akari asked, curious as to what the seemingly carefree Jonin would make them go through.

Kotoya smiled "First off, I need you all to close your eyes. No cheating, got it?" The Genin thought it was weird but reluctantly did so anyway. They could hear their Sensei seemingly taking out a few objects that made chain-like metallic sounds. They could also suddenly feel their wrists and ankles being touched by the cold metallic surface… he wouldn't, would he?

The Genin opened their eyes at their Sensei's command. They were chained together by their ankles and wrists.

"W-what!?" Ko asked, they had all been caught off guard by the seemingly simple request. The clones Kotoya had used to chain them together in a matter of seconds puffed out of existence and the original sensei came out of the small cloud of white smoke, with a more devilish than usual smirk on his face.

"What is the meaning of this?" Akari asked harshly, clearly annoyed. Kei decided to keep his mouth shut, there was clearly a meaning behind this.

Kotoya cleared his throat "Before I agree to take you under my wing there are a couple of things that I must get straight" He walked closer to the three Genin "You will not survive long with such poor teamwork and chemistry" Kei and Akari looked at each other for a moment, rolling their eyes soon after meeting each other's glance.

"See what I mean?" He shook his head "You have until noon to get back up here, if you don't make it in time I'll send you all back to the academy"

"It's not even my fault!" Ko yelled, but soon realized something "Wait, what do you mean 'get back up here'?"

Kotoya grabbed the chain with his hand, using all of his might to throw the three Genin off the tall mountain that was the Hokage Monument. He had to be a madman, for sure.

The three Genin helplessly screamed their lungs out as they fell. Forget getting back up there, how would they even survive the fall?!

The fall went on for a few more seconds. They could see the ground was close already, and so was their end. They all closed their eyes, and then… _splash._

They had landed on a pond of sorts, they felt relieved for having survived (though their Sensei had probably aimed them there on purpose) but now they had to face their first challenge… getting out of the pond.

All three Genin started swimming in different directions, soon realizing that the chains would impede their movement if they tried to do so. They continued their underwater struggle, Akira and Kei shooting each other underwater glares to try to get to other to come in their direction, it went on for a while until they finally gave up and decided to cooperate, all of them swam to the surface directly above of them.

They slowly made their way to the edge and got out of the water, breathing as heavily as they could. As they had been screaming on their way down, they went into the water with nearly no oxygen on their lungs.

"Are you trying to get us all killed!?" Akari snapped at the brown haired boy, mad at their underwater struggle. Kei frowned, he wasn't gonna let her go off on him like that.

"Tsch" He rolled his eyes "You should have drowned"

The interchange between the two of them was cold and harsh, Ko couldn't stand it anymore.

"Guys!" She shut them up "I don't know about you but I already had enough Academy for a lifetime, let's go!" She got up and started walking towards the road leading back up to the Hokage Monument. Kotoya had thrown them to the opposite side of the mountain so the village was all the way around to the other side. They were in an empty forest right now.

She dragged her teammates along with her, giving the two time to reflect back on their actions. Kotoya-sensei was right, their clashing attitudes could get them in danger.

The chained trio walked along the side of the mountain, and soon found themselves in front of their next obstacle. There had been a landslide a couple of days ago and debris from the mountain had fallen on top of the forest, tons over tons of rock blocked their way and went deeper into the forest for at least a mile if you added in all the destroyed trees and dirt the rocks had carried with them.

Ko thought about it, they had two choices. It was either going the hard but short way over the debris or the easy and long way around them. Chained up together, it was unlikely that they would arrive before noon if they decided to go around. They had to climb, there was no other way.

Ko took a step forward, but the chains held her back. She turned to her teammates "What are you waiting for?"

They sighed and followed the pink haired girl. It would be hard –and dangerous- to climb the fallen rocks while not being able to separate themselves more than a couple of feet from each other because of the chains. The first few large rocks were easy as they consisted of simple coordinated jumps that were relatively easy for Genin, but from now on it would get harder. A very large rock standing at least over 20 feet blocked their path further up the landslide. If they were unchained they could probably make the jump, but not like this. They would have to climb it by hand.

"What a drag…" Kei muttered, getting his hands and feet into whatever nook and cranny was large enough to support him. The girls followed suit, eventually catching up to Kei. It reminded them of the physical part of the graduation test. The trek up wasn't particularly grueling for the Genin, though they'd probably end up very tired.

Suddenly, the girls felt Kei stop on his tracks, a blank look on his face.

"Oi, what's wrong with you?" Akari asked harshly, clearly wanting to finish the climb.

Kei snapped back to reality and held the chain connecting him to Akari with his right hand, pulling it and Akari off of the rock.

"W-what the heck!?" The light haired girl protested as she hanged upside down, he WAS trying to kill her after all. However, her attention was redirected to a large rock falling off the top of the boulder they were currently climbing… right down the path where she was climbing. The boy finally helped her up back to her spot again, and the two girls looked at him with puzzled looks.

"How did you know?" Ko asked quietly, Akari could have died there.

Kei sighed "It's a clan thing, some of us can predict some stuff before it happens" Kei continued climbing, clearly not caring enough to discuss it further. Akari was slightly shocked, who would have thought that he would end up saving her?

It was only a matter of seconds until the Genin finally reached the end. From here, it was a clear path all the way back to the top of the monument. They smiled at each other. They could make it.

From the distant shadow of a tree, Kotoya smiled. He knew things would probably take a little more time to sort themselves but progress was made today. He prepared to use his Body Flicker Technique to beat his students back to the monument.

Someone had to be there to congratulate them after all.

* * *

 **Yup, there we go. I must say I'm satisfied by the way this chapter came out. I could have made three separate chapters for each test but I figured no one would want to wait for their turn. So I simply clogged them all together.**

 **I hope you liked it, PLEASE leave your feedback down below.**

 **It doesn't have to be a long review, even a simple "Good Chapter" might be enough to satiate the beast and get a cookie.**


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